Thursday, June 8, 2017

Rain, rain, rain

Hi Folks ~ My goodness, we were in drought conditions but not so after the last 4 days of rain here in s.e. FL. Today, so far, is the first day in a week that we’ve not had rain, the past four days bringing us the most. Thankfully for me, I did not have to deal with much thunder and lightening, just lots of rain. My gardens are happy with all of the liquid sunshine they have received. More thunderstorms are expected through Sunday. I mowed one day last week before all of this rain and it’s a good thing. Things are growing like crazy and once the weather clears, I need to get out with hedge clippers, the weed wacker and the lawn mower again, not all in one day though.

Here are some of my latest blooms.

The first are passion vine flowers, first two are ‘Bryon Beauty’ and the last three are of ‘Incense’.

06-03-bryon-beauty

06-03-bryon-beauty2

06-03-incense

06-03-incense3

06-03-incense2

Next, from top to bottom: frangipani, giant milkweed, shrimp plant, sweet almond and Tahitian gardenia.

06-03-frangipani

06-03-giant-milkweed

06-03-shrimp-plant

06-03-sweet-almond

06-03-tahitian-gardenia

Next: Queen Crepe

06-03-queen-crepe

06-03-queen-crepe2

Vanda orchid ‘Miss Joachim’ grows wild and like crazy all around my property.

06-03-vanda-miss-joachim

06-03-vanda-miss-joachim2

Roses: Drift rose, Granada, Mozart, and an unknown.

06-03-drift-rose

06-03-granada

06-03-mozart

06-03-not-sure

My dear husband’s 2 sisters, one on left from northern FL, sister next from TN, brother-in-laws wife and brother-in-law and myself, live about 30 minutes from each other, (via the expressways, or an hour going the slower route, which is my way.) We had gone out to eat with 6 of the younger set, haven’t asked for permission to post that photo yet, so I won’t.

06-05-siblings

While editing photos, I thought of taking the last photo that I took of my dear husband while working up on the neighbor’s roof, taken 06-06-12, and a cropped pic of BIL Todd, which was taken 06-04-17, putting them side by side. Handsome brothers. (I sure miss my sweet man. It’s hard to believe it’s 4 1/2 years since he left.)

brothers

That’s it for now. I’m going to make a spagetti sauce with Italian sausage, which I will serve over Chickpea Rotini with Lentils noodles. Ought to be interesting. So, I need to get up and start the sauce.

Hope you all have a great weeked.

******

Be thankful each day for all that you are blessed with.

Learn from mistakes.

Be forgiving and ask for forgiveness.

Give love & encouragement.

Be well.

FlowerLady

24 comments:

Nancy J said...

Family photos and the two side by side, very special. Your flowers are always so gorgeous, and is that a gecko on the wall? I have 2 green ones, that came from Australia, gifts from a friend. I Love your garden, and as we are in "WINTER" down here, a beautiful breath of summer to brighten my day, after another cold start of about 2 Celsius. Hugs from NZ.

Sally said...

Hi Lorraine. I'm always amazed at how exotic your gardens are! Beautiful orchids growing wild in your yard......are you sure you're in FL and not HI?? Glad to hear your're rain has let up. Let's pray we get what we need over the summer.

Ruth Hiebert said...

The rain sounds refreshing. We are in need of rain hereabout so far it seems to stay away. Love those flowers. I smile overtime you mention the Orchids growing wild. They are such an exotic plant and quite expensive here's they don't seem like a garden flower.Guess that's the difference location makes. Glad you got to spend time with family.Yes,we miss those dear loved ones who have gone before us.

Terra said...

Your tropical paradise garden is full of such beauties; I like the passion flowers especially. Nice you all went out together.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Glad you got your 'needed' rain... We too finally are OUT of our drought (I hope) --since we too have had a lot of rain lately. LOVE IT --and our yard/flowers are SO happy.

Nice pictures of some of the family..... Family is SO important --especially as we get older I think...

Love your flowers... The Passion Flower really puts on a nice show... AND that ORCHID is awesome... It matches your pretty home colors...

Hugs,
Betsy

lil red hen said...

I always love to see your beautiful flower photos! It's hard for me to imagine the orchid growing so freely around your yard. My flower beds will have to wait another six weeks before they will get much attention. But ~ "this too shall pass!"

Dixie @ Arranged Words said...

You have such wonderful gardens to meander through. The passion flowers are beautiful and my what a stunning orchid.
Looks like you had a lovely outing with family. Good for you.

Melanie said...

Good to hear you finally got some rain. We were deluged with it in May and now we haven't had any in about 3 weeks. We need it desperately now, too. Love your Passion Vine - I always thought that flower was so interesting-looking. How nice to see a photo of your husband. I don't believe I've seen one before of him. He was very handsome, as is your BIL. Have a good weekend!

Karen @ Beatrice Euphemie said...

Hi Lorraine, so nice to see the brothers side by side - handsome fellows. Love the photo of all the gals, too. I like your pretty braid :) You have the most amazing flowers and I can't imagine having beautiful orchids growing wild in my yard! The sauce sounds delicious. We are having rain, and even a little thunder-boomer now and again. Happy weekend. hugs xo Karen

BeachGypsy said...

Hi there Lorraine, so glad you posted...I always love seeing what all is blooming there! I just love your garden--it has a wild and free look that I so love! I cant believe all the VARIETY of beautiful flowers you have there---so many and you know all their names!--I learn so much from looking at your blog. So many of your flowers I have never even seen before, so it's very interesting. The family photo is very very nice! How did you supper turn out? Sounds tasty!

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Good Morning!! You look GREAT. Your flowers are flourishing. We had that rain, now we are 15 degrees above normal with terribly high humidity moving in. We'll stay in the house pretty much. Terry can't breathe in high humidity. It's all good.
xx, Carol

Kit said...

I am loving the passion flower. So unusual! I love the photo with you and your family. Sweet! :) Kit

Junkchiccottage said...

Loving the pretty passion flower. All of your garden blooms are gorgeous. Love all the family pics.
Enjoy the weekend.
Hugs,
Kris

Stephanie said...

Good evening, lovely lady! My oh my, what beautiful flowers you have! I am sure they are very thankful for the rain {{smiles}} We have been getting a lot of wind which is drying everything out. Hopefully we will get some rain soon as well.

What precious family pictures! Love and hugs to you!

A Joyful Cottage said...

It's so interesting to see photos of your garden flowers, Rainey, because they're so different from what I can grow here. Yours are so exotic. Beautiful. Seeing the side by side photos of your husband and his brother one can see how much they resemble one another. They could be twins. It's so nice that you're close to your husband's siblings. You look great, by the way. Hugs, Nancy

klaraau01 said...

Beautiful flowers and thank you for showing your special vanda

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

Since I am not familiar with many of these flowers in my area seeing yours in fascinating ! :) Especially that first one...so exotic.

What handsome brothers. Of course you miss him every day :(

Karen said...

Rainey, I'm so happy to see the beautiful flowers in your garden. What a resemblance between the two brothers! I'm glad you are in touch with family, what a blessing. You look so beautiful!

Yesteryear Embroideries said...

How beautiful your flowers and gardens always are! So good that your are in touch with your family. Your chickpea rotini with lentils does sound interesting!

Rebecca said...

We were away for a week. Returned to dry weather. Spending time here getting our plants back into shape!

I love coming to see your flowers - such a wide variety... Your recipe sounds delightful. I've moved into salad mode here - trying more cold dishes as outdoor temps have been in the 90s!

Unknown said...

Oh, you have such beautiful blooms! I'm so in love with your lavender cottage in your beautiful garden! And to have the crepe myrtle right next to it is stunning! Blessings to you and your family. I've been following along on your journey - I hadn't realized that it'd been over four years. (But then, time does seem to go by in a blink.) Much love, Lynn

Unknown said...

Hi Lorraine! You really have some beautiful flowers in your garden. The different passion flowers are really lovely as is that wonderful frangipani! Your garden must be filled with such lovely scent! We have had so much rain haven't we? We really needed it although of course it has to come all at once. Glad that you get to spend time with family.
Love Kate

outlawgardener said...

How special to spend time with family and lucky that you live so close. Your flowers are gorgeous!

Red Rose Alley said...

Hello, I saw your blog through another blog friend. You really do take wonderful pictures of flowers. This purple and white one is so unusual. I've never seen anything like it before. Roses are my favorite flower, the red rose being my first. Me and my daughters also have a blog, and we would love it if you could visit and follow. I would certainly come back and follow you as well. It's nice to meet new friends. I see a few familiar faces on here, Karen, Stephanie, Terra, which are all dear blog friends of mine. I hope to hear from you, and have a sweet day.

~Sheri at Red Rose Alley