Croissants A – Z

plum windowThis was a class that Eric found for me since I like to bake and it was the same kitchen from our earlier cooking class together. I got so much more out of the class than just croissants.  🙂

plum

Lucy is well-organized and kept us on track throughout the afternoon.  We made the dough first, using scales for measurement versus cup & spoons like at home.  Eric has already said he has a scale on his wish list.

tools

We measured and mixed the dough first, with Lucy giving us plenty of opportunity to see (and touch) the various stages, allowing us to see differences.  Two important things for the dough – use the best ingredients you can find, especially for the flour and the butter.  The dough chilled while we flattened the butter.  It’s not quite as easy as it sounds.

We spent time folding the paper to get used to how we would be folding in the butter.

Words cannot easily describe the folding, but luckily Lucy drew pictures on the chalkboard for remainders.  One thing she said to always keep in mind, the outside fold should be on the left, like the spine of a book.

Before rolling out the dough, the ends need to be pressed to ensure that butter doesn’t seep out the ends.

edsThen continue rolling out the dough. One neat trick she shared was to press an indentation in the middle of your dough when rolling as it helps keep the ends ‘square’.  I can definitely use that when making cinnamon rolls.

Next steps include cutting the dough and rolling up the croissants.

After proofing, an egg wash was added before going into the oven.

egg croissants

Ahhhhh, but we were not done.  Using the same dough, we made ‘pain chocolate’ (chocolate croissants) and another pastry with apple roses.

I just have a few photos of the pain chocolate and you can’t see the baking chocolate that is already wrapped inside the dough.

Our third ‘bonus’ with this dough was our last pastry.  We made the apple roses first by thinly slicing (with a mandolin) apples, micro-waving the slices to soften the fruit before wrapping them in a roll…………..which ends up looking like a rose.

applesThe left over pastry was cut into squares, two ‘L’ slits were created, then folded to the opposite corners.  A dab of apricot jam was added before placing the rose on top.

rose danish

And the finished pastries………….. top rows (6) are the pain chocolate with the croissants below.

baked

There were four of us in the class and we divided up the finished pastries.

plated

I think my favorite was the apple rose Danish.  🙂

LOVED the versatility of the chalk board.  She gave us paper copies of the recipe to take home.

board

The time in Lucy’s teaching kitchen was time well spent.  I won’t be buying any more frozen pastry from Pillsbury.

 

 

 

 

 

Our first Lyon cooking class

plum intro

I had really planned on making only one entry for our cooking classes, but there’s just too much to share.  And besides, it is worthy of its own entry.

Eric is a big user of Trip Advisor and found info about this cooking school & class schedule and several of the options appealed to us.  This entry is about the first one he scheduled.  It begins with a trip to a nearby market and then cooking a meal with your purchases.  ‘Nearby’ is a loose term…….the walking is all up hill. Our teacher, Lucy shared a few tips before getting there.

There are a variety of sellers in the market and locating signs like the ones seen below indicate a closer relationship to the produce.  There’s nothing wrong with purchasing from others, and that’s how retail works, but it’s always nice to support local efforts.

 

producteur      producteur 2

The produce photos seen first are items that we used for our meal.  Since we both love outdoor markets, I had waaaay too many photos from the market.  At the bottom of the blog I threw in lots of other photos from the market, ones that interested me but we didn’t use that produce in our cooking class.

I was able to capture Lucy and Eric during our trip through the vendors.

lucy 2

A few additional purchases were made for our ‘snack’ during our day of cooking.  Dried sausage and cheese purchases were a must.

And then the fun began.  We got back to Lucy’s teaching kitchen, unwrapped our purchases and began the prep.

market haul

Eric was in charge of washing some of the veggies and ensuring that all of the sand and soil were removed.

veggie prep

Lucy was very good at bringing in everyone to the class, tasking us each with duties throughout the day. One of my tasks was cutting the bread for our snack.

gmd prep

But the star (at least for the moment), was the actual snack!  Starting upper left was the dried sausage, followed by radishes (split cross-wise at the tip, place a dab of butter into the cuts, then sprinkled with salt – OMG), green plums (green only in color, not ripeness), figs with one of our earlier cheese purchases and fresh raspberries.

snack

Alas, I didn’t get a photo of the bread I cut and slathered with a spicy spread.  Oh well, it was very tasty.  So a few things to note………normally the plums, figs and raspberries were items I would have been indifferent to – OMG.  They were absolutely delicious and full of flavor.  Things grow better in France – just saying.

Lucy wrote our menu on her chalkboard, but I discovered later I never got a shot of our entire menu, only when she started writing it out.

menu

Soup was the first thing we made to eat.  It was composed of squash, chestnuts and mushrooms.  Eric used an immersion blender for our base of the soup while the mushrooms were lightly sauted.

It was very tasty.

soup done

We roasted some small cherry & grape tomatoes that went along with…..

tomatoes

—–our purchase of a pork loin from the market.  After searing the pork, it was put in the oven to cook, then basted with Dijon mustard before being rolled in herbs from this morning’s purchase.

I missed so many steps with my photos.  😦  We made this fabulous sauce by sautéing onions and then adding herbs (and butter of course) before blending it together, which become the base plating of our meal.

plate prepDrumroll please…………………….

plate done

The herb-encrusted pork is sitting on fingerling potatoes, which accompanied the roasted cherries and herbed onion sauce.

What meal is complete without a dessert?  Plums from that morning’s purchase turned into a lovely tart.

tart 3No French meal is complete without a cheese course, of which some were from the morning’s market purchases.

cheese plate

While I haven’t mentioned our cooking buddies, they were part of the overall great experience.  Four ladies from Hong Kong (Jacqueline, Helen, Mandy & Margaret) took a French language course and have since planned numerous trips to France to continue their language skills.

group

Suffice to say, we really enjoyed the class, the meal and the company during the day while we cooked and learned more about French cuisine.

gE lucy

Now, here are my random photos from the market trip.  First the fruits & veggies.

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Which are being followed by various meat & associated products.

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And of course I had to include photos of flowers.

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Oh my goodness the cheeses.

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It was just a really good day filled with all of the things we like best.

m eric

Les tours de la vins

wine pano

When touring France, you must take a wine tour.  We booked two for our time in Lyon!  Knowing that on Sundays/Mondays minimal places are open for business, we specifically looked for things to do on these days, hence the tours.

van

Our first tour was  ‘Beaujolais South Gourmet Wine Tour’ and we headed north out of the city.  After about 45 minutes driving, we stopped at a church on top of a hill for our first tasting.

GE church

The tour started at 9 am so drinking wine at 10 am is not the norm, but it was explained that the morning is the best time for wine tasting as your palate has not been tainted by any strong flavors.  Who knew?tableclothOur van driver was our tour guide and resident wine expert.  We had 3 Beaujolais wines, one of which was white.  I didn’t know that white beaujolais existed.  There is something pretty special about drinking wine in the morning, on top of a hill in France with a really old church in the background.  (BTW – it’s kind of hard taking a selfie with the sun in your face).

Since the church was a historic site, there was signage showcasing the Beaujolais wine regions and the 10 beaujolais appellations.

map

After the reds were tasted, Baptiste pulled out pain chocolate (chocolate croissants) for us to enjoy with the red wine.  The red wine tasted totally different.  Try it some time – you might like it. 🙂

red pairing

I came to France not liking any red wine unless it was made into sangria.  I’ll be leaving France with a few red wines added to my list.  Afterwards it was off to a nearby medieval village.

GE wine

We visited the village of Oingt and I found some interesting flower gardens sprouting up wherever the inhabitants found space.  Each of the buildings were built with yellow stone and to this day, remains a rule for building or remodeling,  You can see some of the stones in the background of my flower photos.

A short beaujolais lesson………….

Beaujolais wine is generally made from the Gamay grape which has a thin skin and low in tannins. The wine tends to be a very light-bodied wine with relatively high amounts of acidity.  It was the Romans who first planted the vineyards and the Benedictine monks kept it going.  There are over 44,000 acres of vines planted in a 34 mile stretch of land.  The white Beaujolais I mentioned earlier is made from the Chardonnay grape and accounts for only 1% of the production.  The Beaujolais wines are released each year on the third Thursday of November.

vine with roses

After the village we headed to a local winemaker where the vineyard had been in his family since 1775.  Though Etienne spoke no English, it was obvious he had a passion for his vines and his wines.

etienne

He had available some grapes leftover from the harvest earlier in the month and allowed the group to eat our fill.

We finished the tour by going into his wine cellar and tasting four of his wines.

etienne inside

etienne sign

 

TOUR 2:  Cote Rotie Wine

This wine region covers nearly 500 acres along the western bank of the Rhone River.  Syrah and Viognier are the two main grape varieties grown.  Wines are meant to be consumed 5-6 years and the vines are typically very old, with the average being 40 years.  The earliest record for this region dates to the 2nd century BC when the Romans entered the territory.  With the vines being grown on very steep, South facing slopes, many of the existing walls assist with containing the slopes and can be dated back to Roman times.  Okay, enough facts.

malleval 2  Upon meeting our tour guide, we once again drove 45+minutes until reaching a place to taste wines.

picnic

You might recognize the tour guide, yes this is the same one as on the previous tour, Baptiste.  All of the vines are planted on very steep slopes as seen below.

vines with wire

The wines we tasted were as expected and we heard much the same spiel as before, but tailored to these wines and growing region.  This time we knew the answers to all of his questions being asked of our group.  We pretty much assumed these wines  would not be to my taste, and that was a correct assumption.  I still enjoyed the tour and visiting the countryside and vineyards.

Next up was a visit to a Medieval village (Malleval) and we pretty much had the streets to ourselves.  During our time, we walked up to the church and captured a few photos.

Our last stop was a winery.

winery 2 sign

We had a very informative and interesting talk before tasting some of their wines.  Not sure if you can see the steepness of the hillside, but you can see some of the Roman retaining walls.

winery 2

GE 2 winery

I tried all of the wines, but usually one sip (a very small sip) was all that was necessary.

winery 2 bottles

Afterwards we headed back to the heart of Lyon and said goodbye.  Another couple from Australia had been on both of our tours and it was interesting meeting them again.

winery GE

We definitely enjoyed the tours and was a great way to ensure we had activities on days that are usually limited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bouchon – french, sounds like bu-shon

By definition………a type of restaurant found in Lyon, France that serves traditional Lyonnaisse cuisine, such as sausages, duck pate or roast pork (straight from Wikipedia!).  There are approx. 20 officially certified traditional bouchons in Lyon with the emphasis on a ‘convivial atmosphere and a personal relationship with the owner’.  Before leaving home we had (by chance) seen Anthony Boudain doing a show from Lyon where he visited several bouchons and our destiny was set.

fed outside

Our first dinner reservation was at Café des Federations, 9 Rue major Martin and since we’re in France, we’re walking to our restaurant, not driving or taking a taxi.  🙂

Bouchons are small in nature, generally one room and this one had 6 tables and it appeared like we were the only non-French customers.

fed plate

The menu had a lot of options……..

fed menu

with each customer selecting their main course and dessert.  I’m holding you in suspense for our main courses.  Most of our friends can probably guess my selection, but guessing Eric’s is more of a challenge.

First to arrive was the poached egg – bacon makes everything better – followed by the small plates to share.

Afterwards came our main entre.  I ordered the chicken in vinegar sauce (delicious by the way).

fed chicken

with Eric ordering the ‘stew of pork cheeks’.  He had seriously been considering the fried beef stomac but too many ordered it at lunch that day and it was not available for dinner.

fed pork

This was followed by a cheese course.  There was one plate used in the bouchon and when you were ready, you could select as many or as few cheeses as you wanted.  This was followed by dessert.  We both ordered the vanilla ice cream with brandy-soaked raisins and black currant fruit sauce.

The patrons and waitress generally add to the experience and this was no exception.

fed cutie

We walked home to work off some of the calories.

fed alley

More bouchon history ……..

The tradition of bouchons came from small inns visited by silk workers passing through Lyon in the 17th and 18th centuries.  The name derives from an expression for a ‘bunch of twisted straw’.  A representation of these bundles began to appear on signs to designate the restaurants and the restaurants themselves become known as ‘bouchons’.

On another night, we visited a second bouchon  ‘Le Bouchon des Filles’, 20 Rue Sergent Blandon.

fill sign

This atmosphere was more lively, more crowded and we were part of a community table, always a fun time.  We became used to community tables on our first trip to Germany and have always enjoyed talking with our ‘neighbors’.

fill napkinWhile no photo of the menu, it had much of the same entres as the previous one. Wine always starts our meal and this night was no exception.

fill e withwineWe started with the ‘small plates’: cole slaw with salt cod (surprisingly good), lentil salad and pork  terrine.  I tried them all, but the cornichons (small pickles) were the only thing I could eat on the item at the bottom of this photo.   Of course, Eric loved the pork terrine.  Again, at least I tried them all.

fill small plates

We had an ‘interesting’ item to cleanse our palate before our main course………

fill glass

Luckily, these glasses were only about 2″ tall – the photo does not tell the story well.  They looked green, smelled green,  tasted green and ‘green’ is not a color I will be eating again.  I tried 2 small spoonfuls and I was done.

Eric ordered the Boudin noir w/baked apples for his main course (top of photo) and I ordered the seafood Quenelle.  Mine was basically a seafood potato dumpling and quite good.

fill meal

Eric had the lemon sorbet for his dessert course and I had their re-imagined ‘banana split’ (vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce, fresh strawberries and banana infused whipped cream) – I won, just saying.

fill desserr

This dining experience was still enjoyed as our first bouchon, but different.  On one side of our community table there was a young lady studying Electrical Engineering from Brittany, France eating with her her aunt & uncle.  On the other side was a family from Australia and their 19-year-old son had just signed on for a 6 month stint on a Burgundy rugby team.  This was their last night of a 5 week trip and the parents were flying out the next day.

fill GE

We definitely found the bouchons enjoyable, but don’t necessarily need more.  We have a few more dining reservations before leaving Lyon and much more to blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lyon – first days

lyon

After our first few days at Disneyland Paris, we headed southeast to Lyon, a gastronomical capital of France, second only behind Paris.  This trip trains are our primary mode of transportation (unlike 2 years ago), which was very convenient since they have a station at DLP.

GE trainTwo hours later, we were in Lyon.  It was suggested to take Lyon’s subway to our flat, but for our first time we got a taxi.  Eric found this place when he was initially looking for cooking classes and one review mentioned the studio flat above the school: 49 Rue des Tables-Claudiennes will be home for six days.  The owners of the flat run a cooking school on the first floor of the same building.

49    rue

One flight up, and we were in our new flat.  Interesting aspect, we have two doors to unlock before getting inside our flat, in addition to the entranceway from the street.

flight

While small (yes, it’s a studio) it had obviously been tastefully re-done and pretty much perfect for us.  A small kitchen for some breakfasts & light meals and a washer for our clothes.  Yes, the ‘bed’ is a pull-out couch, but former occupants all commented on its comfort in their reviews.

studio 1

studio 2

studio 3

After dropping off our luggage, we went in search of lunch.  One of the owners suggested ‘Jutard Bistro’ and off we went.  We had seen the stairs on our taxi ride and they were just as daunting to use as they were to see.

steps

For our first lunch in Lyon, this was perfect.

Jitard wineWe shared a fromage and meat plate………

jitard characuterie……..and then Eric added a dozen oysters that were sold outside the bistro, but a part of the dining experience.  Cant believe it but I had 3 of the 12 bi-valves.

We walked off our lunch and found a few more memories for Lyon.  Since we were staying here for 6 days, we picked up some flowers for our flat.

flowers aptWe found several city parks tucked into corners and also walked across one of the two rivers that are part of Lyon.

flowers asterfill riverYou never know what you will walk upon and we found numerous plazas, some of which had running fountains.

GE fountainThey also have some covered passageways, much like in Paris, but these are strictly to keep a person dry, not for shopping.

hidden passageAfter picking up some fruit, croissants and seltzer water, we were set for a few days.  So far, Lyon looks very promising.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last Memories of DLP

lodge

We stayed at Disney’s Sequoia Lodge, our second time.  It’s modeled after the great lodges in the West and the landscaping complements that.

lodgr back

Rooms are pretty typical of Disney, lots of theming.

lodge room

Our last visit, friends had up-graded us to the Golden Forest Level – and spoiled us.  This time we paid for that privilege.

goldenIt’s mostly used at breakfast having available a variety of foods:

>scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, sliced potatoes, baked beans (for the Brits), pastries, cheeses, meats, yogurt, cereal – you get the picture.

golden room

Friday’s plans we both had people to meet and we split up.  Eric was to meet their Horticulture team and present the soon-to-be-retired Director with a topiary ‘Mouse-car’  from the Horticulture Department at WDW and also talk about some WDW horticulture practices – he gets to count this as a work day – go figure.

I am meeting up with a lady I met during my time in Shanghai, Christine, a Custodial Proprietor.  Our bus ride back to our apartments was 45 minutes and we shared task force stories (and frustrations) during that time.  She visited WDW earlier this year, but we were out-of-town during that weekend.  I asked Christine for a back-stage tour of both Parks and she spent 4 hours showing us around and sharing comparisons between all the Parks she has visited.

3 of us

While Halloween isn’t such a big deal over here, they decorate one of their lands.  They had some weird statues as part of their decor.

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We had lunch together before she had to go back to work.  She’s planning on coming back to WDW within the next 12 months, so hopefully we will be able to get together.  We ate at ‘Annette’s Diner’ in the Disney Village area –  typical American food with burgers, hot dogs, fries and shakes.  The hostess escorting your group to your table wore roller skates.

3 at lunch

Our previous visit we saw numerous plastic topiaries but they have definitely improved their horticulture standards within the last 2 years.  We saw numerous live topiaries and this Mickey was in the Disney Village.

topiary mickey

Before Eric left the Horticulture Director, Luc took him to a Dutch Garden that was a combined effort with the Dutch government and Disneyland Paris.  It was pretty impressive and Eric took me back there later in the day.

duth

This was in front of Disney’s Newport Bay Hotel and part of the garden was a meadow.

meadow

If you don’t like pictures of flowers, skip to the end.  This is the result of two people interested in Horticulture around the world. 🙂  I showed some restraint, I could have put in 3 times the amount of photos.

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This was a good way to start our trip.  It gave us a chance to get over (most) of the jet lag, meet up with friends and run a (short) race.  It was also nice to visit during a special year (25th) for one of the Disney parks world-wide.

25 sign

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disneyland Paris 5K

Made it.  I didn’t doubt that I could finish just wasn’t sure how long it would take me.  And actually, I didn’t end up timing myself since most participants were taking photos with characters and standing in line for a very long (in my opinion) time so I decided not to bother. DLP is celebrating their 25th park anniversary so ’25’ could be found most everywhere.

25

I was in Corral C since I signed up so late.  The good thing was the start line was right in front of my hotel (Sequoia Lodge).  The bad thing was my corral was almost a 1/2 mile away on the other side of a man-made lake in front of a different hotel,  Disney’s Newport Bay.  They did have several boats on the water to get people excited and warmed up as we waited and waited and waited and waited.

boat

These photos are taken with plenty of light.  By the time I started, the sun had gone down.  For a point of reference, I’m to the right of the hotel you see in the background and the start line can’t be seen.

Okay, so this is my first Disney race and the first one with this many runners.  I felt like a sardine.

waiting

The race started at 8pm, and at 845pm I was barely 2/3 closer to the start line than when I started and twice that many was behind me – yikes.  Eric and a couple of friends were at the start line to see me off, then they went for a beer.

arch

Most of the run was in Disney Hollywood Studios, some on-stage and some back-stage.  The lines for each of the markers was so long, I just went for a photo of the number.  I’d still be waiting if I wanted to be in the photo with the marker.  Sent Eric a message saying that I was at MM2 – thinking that it was mile marker 2.  Oops, forgot I was in Europe and the marker was kilometers.  My first clue was ‘Wow, that was fast and I don’t feel anything’.  Hmmm, wait that’s not right.  Aarrgghh  kilometers not miles.

It got a little long between the 3 and 4 kilometer markers.  Most of that was back-stage and they didn’t have their overhead lighting right.  Some runners were using the ‘flashlight’ option on their smart-phones to ensure they didn’t fall or trip.  Obviously I made it all the way through to the end of the 5 kilometers – no marker though.  I got my medal, took a selfie and headed out to find Eric and friends.  The finish line was inside the park and you had to purchase a special (extra) ticket to be there, so we didn’t.

 

medal

Eric saw me before I found them.  We all went back to our hotel bar for a drink.  I just needed one (and didn’t finish it) before I started crashing and went upstairs to sleep.

beer

 

 

24 hours awake

Wow. It’s been just about a full day since we’ve been up and running halfway around the globe. Trying something new for me-writing this all on my phone, not my laptop, so I get a pass this first time around.

Meeting the friend I worked with in Shanghai that works at Disneyland in CA. After connecting at the airport, we purchased our train tickets and 10 minutes later we were at the park.

IMG_0205

First on the agenda was lunch in their Downtown Disney area…….at King Ludwigs Castle.

I ordered a delicious tart and Eric got sausages

Had to to take a few photos in front of the park……IMG_0224.JPGIMG_0221

And of course the floral Mickey.  Guests enter the park by walking through the Disneyland Hotel.

The park is celebrating their 25th anniversary and had some interesting displays.  IMG_0220

Yes, those are live (succulent) plants that have been spray painted with metallic paint.

After getting our tickets and maps we walked both of the parks.

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Had to take a photo in front of the castle.

IMG_0240

And also ride the Remy ride which is coming to Epcot

IMG_0259

By now we’re starting to crash and met in the hotel bar for drinks and snacks before calling it a day.

This post is short and sweet.  Hoping everything works when I hit ‘publish’ on my phone.  More later after  I get some sleep.

au revoir

Ginny

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miami – Disneyland Paris

Bags packed – check

Passports packed – check

Laptop, phones and assorted chargers – check

We’re ready to go!  This has been almost a year in the planning and finally the day has come.  We both worked the day before – me later than Eric – but he had to mow the yard (front and back) before we left.  He waited pretty much  until the last possible moment so the grass had minimal time to grow before we got back.  We started the relaxation process the night before at Chilis.  The black cherry Margarita was a great way to start the trip.

drinks

We’re driving to Miami for our flight since it goes straight through to Charles DeGaul Airport.  That was Eric’s main selling point to me.  It worked at the time,  not sure how I will feel about that at the end of our trip, but we’ll see.

The plan was to leave 8 am (ish) which undoubtedly leaves us plenty of time to check-in for our 7:30pm departure.  We picked up a rental at Car Care yesterday and taking that to the airport.  We’ve got the luggage thing down pat.  We each have 1 bag and a carry-on.  Technically, our bags are of a size that we could carry-on, but neither of us wants the hassle of schlepping around more stuff at the airport.

eruc luggage

Yes, that’s right, 7:30 pm.  It’s typically a 4 hour drive to the airport.  We weren’t sure if all of the Hurricane Irma ‘evacuees’ returning would have an impact on the roads (it didn’t) and of course, we wanted to check in early since we’re unfamiliar with the Miami International Airport.  So we dropped off the rental, caught the shuttle to the airport and found the AirFrance gate……..it was closed.  Signage indicates it opens at 3:30pm – 2 hours from this point.

What to do………grab some food, then get a manicure!  There are a few spa places in the airport and we definitely had the available time.  Thirty minutes later, pink nails.

We thought with our Global Entry Card, we would be able to skip the Security line that requires you to remove your shoes and stuff.  It should have……..but did not today.  😦   No matter, it’s not like we’re on a tight schedule yet.

The credit card used for our flights allow us to enjoy a VIP lounge at the airport – nice.  We can charge our phones/devices in peace, snack on goodies and enjoy free drinks.

It was crowded and noisy in the beginning, but by the time our flight drew near, more than half of the people left.

lounge

Finished our time in the lounge with sweets (for  me) and a drink (for Eric).

dessert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hurricane Irma – part 2

truck with tree

So this was our initial preparation for Hurricane Irma at home.  We had a company come out several months ago and prune our trees away from the house, and yes, they even pruned the tree you see in the photo above.  But a sweet gum is not known for being a strong tree.  Once it seemed that Florida was not going to dodge this storm, Eric gave a lot of thought to taking this tree down and ultimately-as you can see-it was cut.  He and a friend got out their chain saws and started chipping away at the base.  They used our red truck to encourage the tree to fall away from the house (and the neighbor’s fence) and voila, the tree is no longer a threat to our house and the Florida room.

In 2004 the windows on the east side of the house leaked due to the wind & rain direction, so Eric added an extra layer of protection.

window

After that, it was hurry up and wait.  Moving the potted plants, bringing in outdoor furniture and laying down anything outside that could become a projectile meant we were ready for the storm to hit.

We had purchased water, drinks and ice earlier in the week, preparing before things became scarce – which it did.

drinks

Eric had cleaned out the chest freezer within the last several weeks,  so it had plenty of room for ice.

ice

We pretty much assumed that our DirecTV service would stop since a good thunderstorm knocks out the service already.  But, who would guess………..we never lost the signal the entire time of the storm.  Hmmm, what does that mean.  DirecTV can control the strength of their signal, when they choose to?

We settled down to watch the storm approach, switching between The Weather Channel and local TV stations.  We started getting some storm bands after 9pm.

hurricane 9pm

And by midnight, the center had jogged to the right and was going right up the center of the state.hurricane 1212

hurricane 1252

One of Eric’s peers was in the hurricane command center on property and they continued to text throughout most of the night.  He said a particularly bad cell was coming after 2am and he told his wife (in Clermont) to take cover in their closet.

hurricane 2 amWe all headed to our Jack & Jill bathroom for the next 1 1/2 hours until the majority of the bad weather had passed.  Once in a while we peeked out the windows to see the rain going sideways and listen to the howling wind.

hurrican nightWe saw something interesting on the garage door.  One of our plants we brought inside the garage had a chrysalis on it and a monarch butterfly came out.  Being inside our garage definitely expanded its life since it was protected from the hurricane force winds.

butterfly

By Monday, the storm had left Florida and was hitting other states in the Southeast.

hurricane monday

After a few hours of fitful sleep, we were able to go outside and see the damage.

Broken limbs in the loquat tree:

loquat Jasmine vine came off the trellis:

vine

And that noise we kept hearing from the roof…………………missing shingles.

roof 1

roof 2

All over the ground……..

shingles

That tree he cut down last Friday, piece by piece, it will get to the curb.

eric

chainsaw

piles