Totally booked up

Well for a guy who never read a book until long after graduating from high school you would not think this of me... I love books. I must have over a thousand books.. most all read by me.... but I confess.. I have not read them all. I find in the collection some college books once owned by my dad and mom. what on earth am I doing dragging their college text books around with me all these years.... uhhhhh, how old are they now?.. and maybe how much are they outdated?... gasp.
Then there are my college books... and Zabrina's home schooling books ( I won't tell you what she told me to do with them either)
Books are like inviting a friend over to talk to you and discuss things of interest........like having a personal talk with someone who knows more and is willing to share his knowledge and skills.... it's like have the personal counseel of someone who is highly respected. It is good to go back and rad a good book more than once ... hardly anyone graps everything the first time thru.
Do you remember how much books weigh? I guess I moved, picked up, carried and stacked at least 6-800 pounds today. I touched every book.. looked at it, thought about it, sorted it and placed it in a box... to keep... to sell.. to give to a neighbor... to give to Zabrina... or to donate to the Deland Publid Library.
A very personal friend of the person buying my house is going to culinary school over in St Augustine so she will get a stack of very fine cookbooks and cooking magazines (yes, I saved every magazine that every came here... that's huge)
 By the end of the day I was totally booked up, so to speak. :-)
This was not a boring day but it was hard work.... but everything has it's good points. I found my hidden stash of cash in several books .  ad now I'm all smiles.
I did not keep all the books I wanted..... I'm cutting down. I will miss them. It's like losing an old friend.
Thanks for the space in your warehouse, Bob. Isn't ot great to have friends who come to your aid in time of need.
Ben would say, "hey... you were supposed to ship that pallet... and.. you were not supposed to keep extra stuff just because you were going to ship a pallet... it was just supposed to take a little weight off the trailer you're pulling."
:-)
I'm finished with the book project for now.
)
I'm cleaning out everything. Yup. they're all leaving one way or another.
The local art association is geeting about 6 easels and lots of art books and magazines.... it is my hope and wish that someone will be helped, inspired and encouraged to do more an better art work.
Wow. all this from cleaning up a huge pile of books. they were stored in the atic and every wherre else in this big old house... you can't imagine.... well maybe you can.

Jasmine at Night

Night bloomin Jasmine is one of my favorites. It sleeps all day then blooms after the sun goes down to provide an enchanting evening for us. One bush will do for the entire neighborhood

What is progress?

Ahhhhhhh... another lovely day beginning.
So we get back on the job. We think we are making progress.....but what is progress. It is all relative, isn't it? Yesterday we sent to the flea market over near St Augustine. Had a good day. Met fine people. sold some stuff. Worked our butts off .... Olt was here again to help. Good thing.... would not have been able to do it without him. We were up at 5:45 and gone by 6:15... still dark out there and a bit cool... but very refreshing. I love the early mornings even if I do not see all of them. :-)

Here's the old place... trailer ready to load for the flea market... ladder displayed ready to sell. We took a b ig load to the market and came back with less... that is progress... but look at the stuff loaded on the porches still waiting to be sold...... what is progress?

Crescent City is still busy as every. We are billed as the city time forgot... rightly so. Look at that traffic!

Just looking at these shots of the porches you would think we have made no progress .... you just did not get a look at where we started ... walking a mile in our shoes would simply wear you out.

Here is a very heavy piece of equipment from the shop ready to go...sold but they need 4 sytong people to move it from here.

A closeup of the supply of antifreeze...... now who needs 7 gallons of antifreeze, I ask... how could that happen. Well, I would catch the sales whenever possible.... I had some to winterize the house here and in Texas.... uhhhh... I may have bought some and could not find it so bought some more .... Now aI have this supply on hand. :-)

The shop is getting emptied.... that table saw has been sold... Jeff just did not get over to haul it away yet... I am packing up some tools to keep and boxing some to sell.

Finally here is a neighbor hauling away some of the valuables she bought..... she is going to bring her pickup truck for the rest. It seems we are making good progress but there is going to be a pile of stuff left over at the end of it all .... local charities may get a bunch and local libraries and the art association may get a bunch ..... then I hit the road..... that's coming soon.

OK... so it's another sunrise ....but there's more

I never tire of seeing the sunrise.... for many reasons .... it's good to just plain see it, the beauty is never ending .... it's so refreshing out there early in the morning - what a way to start the day .... it has been one of my great pleasures all these years to watch the sun rise over Crescent Lake, how can I not like it..... it's great that we actually get another day and it's going to be a good one, I can tell already .... there are certain birds that get up early and hang out down by the lake - that is always a source of enjoyment .... watching the sun rise gives a person a few moments to relax and think of good things and plan the day accordingly .... there is the opportunity to capture some of this beauty with the camera and come back to enjoy it again and again ...this list can continue on and on... you get the point. I love the sunrise over the lake.

I can watch the sunrise over the east upper porch at my house. I can even sit out there and eat while I enjoy it. If I go to the West side of the upper deck I can watch the sunset as you can see below. The sky in Florida is so dramatic and colorful.
Finally, we have one of the neighborhood cats. There are at least 3 of these yellow ones and a couple of black and whites. Usually they are well behaved and none of us have any mice or pesky rodents.

Colorful Western sky in the evening from the upper deck

Grinding Papers and the Chocolate Factory

Today I drove into town with five boxes of papers that needed to be schreded. Didn't cost but $58. Would have taken me 6 weeks of full time grinding on the small schreder here at the house so I thought that was a bargain. Won;t show you the place where I took the boxes... just not all that interesting.
Now I couldn't drive all the way over to Daytona Beach without taking one last look at the old downtown section which is on the Halifax River ... part of the intercostal. Come along as I walk around for a while.

This was the first view I got as I walked from the parking lot which was behind the buildings. There is parking on the street in front of the old storefronts but  most of them were taken in the destination block. Following are a few shots  from different angless so you can get the feel of what it's like. It's actually like a trip into the past. Slow pace, no crowds today, people eating at the sidewalk cafe.

Across from the strip of stores is a park which is right on the river. The park is the location fofr music festivals and art festivals and family picnics. It's always pleasant sitting near the waters edge.

This is the new bridge from the mainland to the island where the famous Daytona Beach lives..... much different than it was when I visited here as a young lad.

Finally I get to the destination... the book store. I had 2 bookstores on the intinerary....Abraxas Boos and the Mandala Book Store. the advertised on line that they bought books. Now we'll see. Abraxas had more books than space and stated that people give him or offer to give him more books than he could ever want so he is only interested in certain books. He was not interested in my 1000+ books as a whole but wanted to see some of them. The easiest way..... photograh the ends of them and email the picture to him. Hey, that's easy... I can do that. Well at least maybe some of them won't have to hit the dumpster.

The sceond bookstore, Mandala's had lots of books but he stated he was going out of business in a few months so not interested in much of anything.... BUT.... he might take some books. Again, email the pictures.

By now,  luch time had come and gone and.... opps... what is this..... no... I shouldn't.... but then, what the heck... I haven't had a high carb, high calorie nutritionless snack in a lonnnnnng time ... here goes .... off to the choclate gactory for a couple of fresh pieces.

The end of the tour is the Daytona Art League. It's been here since 1932. Met some fine people there.... too bad I did not hook up with them years ago. They stated they would be glad to take my art books, magazines and easels..... ahhhh... now they do not have to hit the dumpster. I'm glad to share.

So went the tour for today. Now it's back home.......got someone coming to buy some shop tools and equipment. Things are moving on out the door. May bet rid of most of it yet... who knows ... but it is getting easier.

Wild Weekend

After a wild week end with Oly   :-)           we produced more than our share of trash for the man .... sooooo
we evened it up and used some of the neighbor's allotment. thanks neighbors... it's nice to have friends and neoghbors... especially in time of need.
This is not the first day we have exceeded our limits.... and won't be the last.... dang there is a lot of stuff here .... but we're making good progress. the pace seems to pick up as we neer the deadline.
Just so that we don't totally bore you with the trash I have included a pictures of where I would rather be  .... over at the beach... and this beach .... one of the few .... actually has a few rocks.
Sometimes we don't get to be where we want to be and do what we would like to do .... but we work towards that end.
You have a good day.

Oly goes bananas

Even the hard working crew on Central Ave neew a break once in a while so we went down the street to the local, world famous waterfront dining establishment... The Three Bananas......... and Oly went Bananas :-)
It was a good day for the 3 Bananas... folks from allover came... it is Biketober Week in Daytona and the bikers make a special trip to Crescent City for an outing. You never know what they'll come on/in.... now is that a 57 Chevy... or is it some guys bike?
The fron door is reserved for handicap only so all other patrons are directed around the building to enter on the lake side.... or simply sit outside under the big oak trees and enjoy the aquatic view.
Boaters were coming and going the entire day.... many stopping in at the 3 Bananas for foode and drink. Notice they are service drinks right out there near the water from the old banana boat.
After hanging out for a while and sampling the fare we finally headed back .... and as you can see... it was not far to go.... yup there's the old place sitting right up there on high ground shining in the sun.
We're making headway.