My New Blog

Well, I had my visit to the Appleton and it was a first class art museum. I definately had my hands full with a very excited 10 year old artist on my hands. Not to mention the coin toss I lost...Mark went to the gym so I took 3 month old Lexi with me. I was very worried she would start crying and we would have to make a mad dash for the gardens so as not to disturb other museum visitors. Thankfully art had a tiring effect on the baby and she slept pretty much the entire time.

There were some amazing paintings and we were able to discuss the many different art mediums. There are some beautiful sculptures spread out in the museum. We got to discuss the masks from Africa and the contemporary paintings. We also walked past a few nude paintings that I wasn't quite prepared for the questions on. ( I told her that some artists just thought of the naked parts the same as hands and feet, it was just skin too...I hope she doesn't try and start drawing nudes!) We walked past those pretty quickly.

Unfortunately, my little artist was getting tired out so we left before she got to see all of the Oriental art down past the gift shop. Laura is now begging to be taken back soon so that she can see the Oriental artwork. She has an artistic soft spot for Oriental art thanks to her obsession with 'Aang the Avatar the last Airbender' cartoon. We have countless drawings in our home of the characters in this show.

All in all, it was a very good visit and I am looking forward to going back for the Oriental artwork, but next time I will probaby try out the coffee bar prior to walking around.

With Tornadoes lurking from Tropical Storms that are turning into Hurricanes and spinning all over the place, it makes living here in Florida feel at times as if you are a bowling pin with an out of control bowling ball coming at you.

Taking precautions with your rental/home insurance, and stock piling water, batteries, canned food and the like, does make you feel as if you still might get hit with the giant spinning ball, but you won't break. In other words, peace of mind is a beautiful thing.

Personally, I have been here for countless storms, and they do eventually blow over. Unfortunately, many get complacent about these storms.

With Faye, we were all interested and on pins and needles as to what it was going to do, where and when it was going to hit, etc. But really, it was nothing, we've had several thunderstorms this year that did more damage than Faye did. So now we have Gustav and Hanna bearing down on us, it looks like both of them won't hit Florida, but would it hurt to be prepared anyway?

I know there are some parts of Florida that did get hit with Faye pretty hard and they are currently in need of government assistance. But for the rest of us, the hurricane season is a long way from being over. From one bowling pin to another: stay on your toes and protect your home as best you can, because even though this one didn't hit us too bad, is it really worth taking the chance on the next?

For help with hurricane preparedness go to: www.ready.gov

According to the National Association of Realtors:

Rates on 30-year mortgages fell for the second straight week, declining to the lowest level in more than a month.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages dropped to 6.40 percent this week, down from 6.47 percent last week. The new rate was the lowest since the week of July 17 when 30-year mortgages stood at 6.26 percent.

The 30-year mortgage has been above 6 percent since late May, reflecting the view of financial markets that rising inflation pressures will keep the Federal Reserve from cutting interest rates further even though the economy is still mired in a period of significant weakness.

The housing market continues to struggle to emerge from its worst slump in decades. Reports this week showed that sales of existing homes, the largest part of the market, and new homes managed to post small increases in July although activity still remains far below the level of last summer.

Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, said one hopeful sign was that the pace of home price declines has slowed in recent months.

“There are also signs more buyers may be getting ready to return to the market,” he said, noting that the Conference Board’s latest survey showed that the number of households planning to buy a home within six months has now risen to its highest level since March.

Still, many economists cautioned that until the backlog of unsold homes is reduced much more significantly, the housing slump is likely to persist. The problem is being made worse by surging mortgage foreclosures dumping even more homes on an already glutted market.

The Freddie Mac survey showed that other mortgage rates were mixed this week.

Rates on 15-year, fixed-rate mortgages, a popular choice for refinancing, fell to 5.93 percent, down from 6 percent last week.

Rates on five-year, adjustable-rate mortgages averaged 6.03 percent this week, up slightly from 5.99 percent last week.

Rates on one-year, adjustable-rate mortgages also edged up slightly to 5.33 percent, from 5.29 percent last week.

The mortgage rates do not include add-on fees known as points. The nationwide fee for 30-year mortgages, 15-year mortgages and five-year mortgages averaged 0.6 point. One-year mortgages carried an average fee of 0.7 point.

A year ago, rates on 30-year mortgages stood at 6.67 percent, 15-year mortgage rates averaged 6.12 percent, five-year adjustable-rate mortgages were at 6.35 percent, and one-year adjustable-rate mortgages stood at 5.84 percent.

Silver Springs, the largest artesian spring system, by water flow, in the world. They have several mini-cruises that you can take throughout the park. This 350-acre nature theme park and the adjacent 6 acre Wild Waters water park are not only a big tourist attraction but really great for all of us locals. I have to admit that Mark and I have had many races down the side-by-side slides at Wild Waters...I even win some of the time. They have a new water ride at Wild Waters, but I haven't gotten to try it yet, I had my beautiful baby Lexi in late May and didn't think she was ready for the water park yet.

Aside from all of this, Silver Springs also has concerts and events throughout the year that keep us entertained.
Here is the schedule of events from their website for the rest of the year:
Tusks: Mammoths & Mastodons
May 17 - Sept. 7

3rd Annual All-G.M. Auto Show
Saturday, Oct. 4

Oktoberfest
Oct. 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26

11th Annual Corvette Show
Saturday, Nov. 1

Native American Festival
Nov. 13 - 16

16th Annual Festival of Lights (there are two different concerts planned for the festival as well)
Nov. 28-29 Dec. 5-6, 12-23 & 26-30

Traveling Vietnam Wall
Dec. 5, 6 & 7

The shopping in Ocala has definitely improved lately, not only around the Historic Downtown Square, but there are now TWO major shopping areas here now, the new Market Street at Heath Brook open air mall and the Paddock Mall.

Museum
I don't know about anyone else, but I am a sucker for an art museum any day. I've promised Laura (the budding artist of our family at age 10) that I would take her to the Appleton museum of art and I think this weekend is as good as it gets. I don't have any open houses scheduled for this Saturday and the museum is open and waiting for us, (Hours:Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday noon – 5 p.m.) with the display of local artists which is ending soon. It is not at all expensive. Currently $6 for adult and kids 10-18 are only $3. (Seniors are only charged $4)

There is just so much to do in Ocala...