Friday Fotos...

 

Whoohoo! I actually have some new photos to share with y'all this week!

I met my friend, Shirley for lunch on Wednesday at the Garden Bistro which is located in the middle of a big City of Lakeland park complex.  If you have visited me here in Lakeland, I am pretty sure we took you to see the Hollis Gardens.  We are so blessed to have such a great Parks & Recreation team working in our beautiful city. We are also blessed to have the Publix Supermarkets corporate headquarters here and the very philanthropic Jenkins family also right here in Lakeland.

This was my approach to the restaurant, from the parking lot.
I went a little early to take some pictures and heard Shirley call me
from behind.  She was early too!

The roses were colorful and so pretty blooming next to 

The Magnolia Building (an event venue that you can rent from the city).

The Garden Bistro was packed.  Shirley and I found a spot

outside.  Two women were at one end of a 6-person table and

we asked to share the other end with them. There were no other tables

available.  They said yes, so we claimed our spots!

Shirley had a BLT and chips. I had a pressed ham & cheese

sandwich with their homemade bean salad. Yummy.

Sorry I didn't get photos of our food. The sign below

shows specials but we ordered from the regular menu.

The restaurant is in the "basement" or ground level of 

the Magnolia Building.

After lunch, we decided to walk along Lake Mirror and go

check out a new eatery called The Joinery, located at the other

end of Lake Mirror from the Garden Bistro. It was a nice walk!

Shirley spotted the turtle so I could capture his picture.

This is another city building.  The right side is another event venue

while the left side building houses our Lakeland Community Theater.

We have a very talented group of actors here in town and they

do some great theater for us.  Joe and I used to have season tickets.

This bird actually flipped the shellfish (or big snail?) out of the lake and it bounced

on the pavement.  He flew down very fast to protect his treasure from us!!

Ducks... two in the foreground and two at the top of the photo. 

Can you see them?

This Albert Paley sculpture graces Lake Mirror.

It is dedicated to the Spirit of Volunteerism.  The art

museum, where I worked for more than 20 years, was instrumental

in getting this sculpture installed here. 

Many people don't like it, but many more love it.  I am one who

loves it and I am so proud that Lakeland has this 

amazing sculpture by a world-renowned artist.

Check out Albert Paley right here.

Excuse the bird droppings...

Lots of birds were enjoying the shade.

Looking back at the Garden Bistro and Magnolia Building.

On the way back to our cars in the parking lot, we walked through

The Hollis Gardens and I got these pictures...

Lots of weddings take place in that gazebo and in these gardens.

Petunias!! So pretty!!

So now you can see that I had a great lunch with my friend, Shirley, and sure enjoyed our walk around the lake and through the gardens.  I didn't take any pictures at The Joinery.  We met some friends who were there eating and talked with them for a while, then walked through to see what kind of food was offered. It is very much like a food court in a shopping mall... or like food trucks without the trucks! Lots of different things offered and I will go back to give it a try.

Peace & hugs!  Jesus loves you and me!