The Divas Do A Little Farming

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much."   - Helen Keller

Last month Diva Keri was watching Channel 6 News and saw a segment about GrowGreen4Women, an organization that provides fresh produce from their small eco-friendly farm to residents of domestic violence shelters in Central Florida.  When Keri saw in the segment that Sarah and Nancy of GrowGreen4Women needed help in getting the spring planting underway, she knew that this would be a perfect fit for the Chrome Divas.  We had already done quite a bit of charity work with SafeHouse of Seminole, one of Central Florida's domestic violence shelters, so this was right up our alley.

On March 29th, Keri and Taz headed out to the farm in Eustis to assess the work that needed to be done and report back to us.  On Saturday April 10th, we traded our riding gloves for gardening gloves and headed out to the farm.  There were five Divas, 1 Divo (Sharon's husband Rob), and a truck bed full of landscape timbers that Keri had personally donated.

When we arrived, there was much to do.  Sarah and Nancy figured that if we worked most of the day, we would get a good start on it, making whatever was left once we were gone a little easier for them to handle.  They underestimated DIVA POWER.  By 2:00 we had dug up all the shrubs where the new beds were to be built, tilled the soil, cut the timbers, built the beds, and filled them all with a truckload of compost.  And that's after stopping for lunch!  It was all done.  Okay, even we had underestimated DIVA POWER.

The "Before" picture.

The Divas with Rob and Sarah.  Ready to get started. 

Bunny modeling her pink gardening accessories donated by Keri and Joni.

Hard at work removing shrubs and roots from the land.

Thank goodness Fireman Rob brought his trusty axe.  These roots were tough!

A little surprise waiting for us when we removed some of the stacked timbers! Sorry you two; we didn't see a "If this stack's a rockin'..." sign.

Beds are laid out.  Now the tilling. There may have been singing of the Green Acres theme song  around this time...

Applying beer therapy to Keri's tilling injury.

Perhaps this is no place for bunnies....

Um, Rob, is now really the best time for personal grooming?

Rob and Sharon cutting the timbers to size.

Okay, you guys didn't think I would post this one, did you?  Yes, that is Bunny shoveling poo.

Filling the beds with compost (aka POO.)

Lunch break.

All finished.

The "After" picture.  A job well done! (There's also another bed that isn't shown in the picture.)





Bowling Party

On Saturday, March 27th, the Divas gathered at the Altamonte Lanes Bowling Center for our first non-riding social event...

Taz, Julie and Gail  (Not sure if the group was aware yet that Taz comes from a bowling champion background!!!! No wonder she looks so confident!)

Chris and Debi enjoying the all-you-care-to-eat pizza.

Gail and Sharon with Sharon's son, who came out to knock 'em down with us.

Chris, Julie, Melanie and Sharon

A big thanks to Melissa who "thunk it up" and planned the event!  Let's do it again SOON!!  (And, by the way,  how did you manage to avoid the camera all night, Melissa?)

Chrome Diva Ride - March 7, 2010

Hmmm... where did the Divas head out to for their March ride?

Yep, Daytona Beach! Debi, Chris, Melissa, Lisa, Sylvie and her friend Maria, and Bunny met up at Panera Bread this morning and headed out to the coast for Daytona's 69th Annual Bike Week.

 Before heading over to Main Street, we stopped in at Caribbean Jack's for a little lunch on the deck overlooking the marina.  Great seafood, weather and view!  We had a nice surprise when Diva Lynn dropped by and visited for a little while as we ate.

At Caribean Jack's

Afterwards, we hopped back on the bikes and joined in on the Main Street festivities.

                                     

We checked out all the vendors...

 

and concessions...

costumes...

and interesting bikes...

And of course we had to get in the sand!

 

Headed to bikes to go back to Orlando. 

Lisa, you're looking a little "shopped out" here.

So to summarize our day, good friends + nice ride + beautiful weather + day at Daytona Beach in the midst of all that is Bike Week = a perfect day for a Diva! 

See ya at the 70th!

Chrome Divas Annual Meet & Greet

The Orlando Chrome Divas headed out to Daytona this beautiful Saturday to Caribbean Jack's Restaurant & Bar in Daytona for the annual Meet & Greet with other chapters.  The Chrome Divas of Jacksonville Beach, Ocala, New Smyrna and Gainesville and 2 Rivers, Kentucky also made it out.  What a great tradition and what fun to reunite with old friends and meet new ones.  The Orlando Chapter looks forward to next year's event!

A whole lotta Divas!

(Click on image to enlarge)

Diva Ride to Yalaha Bakery

Sunny and 70s - what a great day for a ride!

On Saturday, February 20, 2010, we met up at Panera Bread at 9:30 for our monthly Divas-only ride.  We took some beautiful backroads around Lake Apopka and then through some of Lake County's sweeping country roads, ending up at Yalaha Bakery for lunch and pastries.  This was one of our first sunny, warm days after an unusually cold winter in Central Florida this year.  It was so nice, some of us decided to take the loooooong way home...

Riders meeting to go over the route.

Ready to ride! 

A brief stop along the way.

Alfresco dining at the bakery. 

Of course we had to gawk at everybody else's rides, including the three-wheeled kind.

One last photo op at the bakery before heading back.

Julie's Book Signing Event

Some of the Divas headed out to Barnes & Noble in Altamonte for fellow Diva Julie Compton's book signing for Rescuing Olivia, her second novel.  Not only is Rescuing Olivia a fantastic, hard-to-put-down read, but, as motorcycle riders and Floridians, we can all identify with the main character, Anders, riding through familiar Florida roads on his bike.

Great book, Julie.  Your Chrome Diva sisters are proud of you!

To learn more about Julie's books, check out her website at http://www.julie-compton.com/

Debi, Chris, Julie, Melissa and Lisa (Not pictured:  Trish and Victoria)

7th Annual Pink Ribbons For Life

The Chrome Divas had a rough start on their way to the Chrome Angels 7th Annual Pink Ribbons for Life event today.  Shortly after kickstands up, Divas Debi and Chris had a bad get-off on Chris's bike at some railroad tracks in serious need of repair.  Thankfully, Chris's helmet and leather jacket took the brunt of the impact and she and Debi are both okay, with the exception of having been a bit shaken up and some minor aches and pains. Chris seemed to have taken the worst of the fall, and, after Debi saw the damage to Chris's helmet (Debi normally does not wear one), has since decided that she would, from this day forward, always wear hers.  This has been a valuable reminder to all of us, that no matter how experienced you are as a rider you can still go down in a blink of an eye and that you should never become complacent about wearing the gear that can make a difference in saving your life or, at the very least, keeping your injuries to a minimum.  Chris will be nursing a sore shoulder for a while, but we are so thankful they are okay!

Once Chris and Debi made it safely home, the rest of the Divas continued with the ride.  We were all feeling a little somber about what had happened -- it's always a little traumatic to witness any biker go down, let alone two of our sisters -- so we took it nice and easy and headed over to TwoJay's Deli in the Dr. Phillip's area for breakfast and to regroup.

After breakfast, Keri's husband, Mark, joined us and we all headed out to Cowboys and had a good time with the Chrome Angels and all the other bikers that participated.  The Chrome Angels do wonderful work with women in the Central Florida area who are undergoing cancer treatment and are in a hardship situation.  They have paid bills for these women when they just didn't have enough to cover it that month, they've provided food for patients and their families, provided medical equipment, helped pay for expensive treatment -- the list goes on and on of the many ways they have swooped in and come to the rescue for so many women in the Orlando area.  The annual Pink Ribbons for Life is a huge fundraiser that allows them to provide all this financial support.  We are in awe of the turnout they get for these events and of just how generous bikers are!  Way to gather the troops girls!

Fun at Cowboys...