Thanksgiving Day blooms

Happy Thanksgiving morning to all of you who celebrate this holiday.
To others, Happy Thursday.

Our little cottage is starting to smell yummy, and dinner should be around 1:45.

It was gray and drippy when I first went out this morning,
but the sun is shining now.
The temp is currently 72 and feels like it is 74.
Tonight's temp will be around 52 and feel like it's in the mid 40's.

Before I got going with dinner preparations,
I grabbed the camera and went out to take pictures.
Click on pictures for viewing larger images.

This first picture is Thunbergia, shrub form.



This is Salvia coccinea.




Purple heart or Tradescantia pallida




An unknown hibiscus.




Smith's Parish.




Old Blush





Mm. Laurette Messimy in the next three pictures.













Maman Cochet climber ~ she has a wonderful scent.




Maggie




Louis Philippe in the next two pics.








Drooping Duchesse de Brabant.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Southern Comfort Sweet Potato Pie

Sweet Potato Filling

2 cups mashed cooked sweet potatoes
1 cup Imperial Sugar/Dixie Crystals granulated sugar
2 TBSP melted butter
1 small can (5oz.) evaporated milk
1-2 TBSP Southern Comfort
Pinch salt
½ tsp. Ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. Ground nutmeg
¼ tsp. Ground allspice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. Vanilla extract

Combine the mashed sweet potatoes with the sugar until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and mix on a low speed setting until blended. Do not whip. I just mixed by hand, and you can tell by looking at the picture as there looks like bits of mashed sweet potato, in the mix. :-)

Use your favorite pastry crust recipe, then pour in filling and bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes.

I used a butter crust recipe, used the left-over dough to make the heart cut outs, which I sprinkled with a bit of sugar before baking. Also had enough dough to wrap around olives and baked them too. We had those for nibbles with wine before dinner last night.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving

Good morning Folks ~ Here it is Thanksgiving morning eve. We already had a horrible thunderstorm pass over, more expected. Lots of wind, rain and thunder and lightening. This weather is bringing us a cold front so that we will have night time temps in the 50's. Hurray.

I've started working on baking and cooking for tomorrow's dinner, and am sure a lot of you are doing the same thing. This year I'm fixing a roaster chicken stuffed with cornbread stuffing, green beans with garlic sauce, mashed potatoes, fresh made whole cranberry sauce with horseradish sauce and yogurt mixed in, heat and serve rolls, and southern comfort sweet potato pie. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it. The green bean, pie and cranberry sauce are new recipes for me this year.

Late yesterday afternoon I was sitting on the back deck when I heard a weird little bird chirp, I looked into the secret garden's hedge and there was a hummingbird flitting around. He flew away and sat on the powerlines. Every once in a while he would flit out then go back to the line, I figured he was catching goodies to eat. I decided to come in for the camera, even though he was at quite a distance I zoomed in on him and you can tell that he is a little hummer.

Here is yet another picture of Phillipine Violets.
I just love this shrub.
It makes babies by seed and I dig them up to plant elsewhere.
Easy to grow and very hardy.




This is a wonderful flowering vine,
with unique leaves and seed pods and a lovely flower,
it is called the Alamo Vine.




Here is another shot of St. Francis.
I just love that little bird sitting on his arm.




This is my shed's garden again.




This rose is Bon Silene.




This last picture is of an afgan I worked on for a couple of years.
I just love the colors.
This is called a sampler afgan because the rows are different stitches.
I'm working on another one done mostly in purples/lavenders/blues.
This covers the top of our double-size bed to pillows.




This Thanksgiving I am thankful to God for our many blessings large and small. In spite of a cutback in time and pay where I work, at least I still have a job. I am thankful for our little cottage and that it's paid for. Thankful for gardens which give me joy and serenity in their simplicity. Thankful DH can do so many different projects around here to keep our place going, artistic and functional. Thankful for the love, life and laughter we share. Thankful for the different crafts I enjoy doing. Thankful for the friends made through the internet. Thankful for the gift of each new day.


Happy Thanksgiving.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Lemon Verbena Lady's Blog

Good morning folks. If you have not visited Lemon Verbena Lady yet, then you are missing a lovely, informative blog. She makes up wonderful dried herbal teas from herbs she grows. If you love herbs, growing and using them, then do visit Lemon Verbena Lady's herb garden blog. It is a lovely treat and you won't be disappointed.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Thank you.

Good morning Folks.

I want to say thank you for your prayers for our friend and her DH. He had surgery Fri. night on his broken ankle that had bones sticking out of his skin and a vein that needed sewing up. They wanted to get that taken care of first so that infection wouldn't set in. Monday he will have surgery on his knee to put it back together. He will be in the hospital until he can use a walker while hopping on his left leg. His right leg can have no weight on it at all, and it will be months of therapy before he can walk on it. He may also have seizures from the concussion.

Your prayers are much appreciated.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Prayers Please

Dear Friends ~ We received word this morning that a friend of ours husband was in a bad car accident yesterday. Legs are badly injured, he had one surgery last night and will have another one today. He also has a concussion. That's all we know right now.

Pray for him that his recovery will be complete. Pray for her for strength and peace as she takes care of him.

Sincerely ~ FlowerLady

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Endless Coleslaw

The recipe below is delicious. You can't quit eating it. DH's dear sweet Aunt made this for us when we visited she and our dear Uncle a few years back, in their home in upstate NY.

I do believe it is my favorite coleslaw recipe.

Enjoy!

3 lb. (1 med. head) cabbage, shredded
1/2 green bell pepper, finely shredded
1/2 red bell pepper, finely shredded
1 medium onion, chopped
1 c. cider vinegar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper

This recipe makes 12 servings. In large bowl combine shredded cabbage, peppers and onion; set aside. ~ To make dressing: In a 1 qt. stainless steel saucepan combine vinegar, oil, sugar, dry mustard, celery seed, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stirring to dissolve sugar, and boil 3 minutes. Pour hot dressing over cabbage mixture and toss well. Let stand at room temperature 30-60 minutes, tossing occasionally. ~ For best flavor, cover and refrigerate two days before serving. Keeps refrigerated up to 10 days.

I did not have the bell peppers, so added sliced baby carrots,
and I used extra virgin olive oil.
Also, it's great right after it marinated for that first hour,
but it only gets better.
We had some at lunch too and I love it.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

November blooms

Good morning Folks ~ Sorry for being MIA, and thank you Nell for asking about me. I have been under the weather but am feeling so much better now. Hope all of you are well. Besides a cold/flu bug that dragged me out, from so much coughing my right rib cage area and muscles were sore and strained. Then, I moved a heavy, terra cotta pot by sort of rolling it along and strained my knee so that I was hobbling along with a cane and in pain. Sheesh! My mind still thinks I can do anything, but I can't. I need to ask for help from DH and not think I can handle everything myself, because is reality, I can't, not anymore.

Anyway, here I am. I've been able to get out to do some gardening work and took some pictures the last two mornings. The weather is so enjoyable down here now. Gardens are loving not being blasted by the suns direct rays overhead.

I will look forward to seeing your wintry scenes, since it's not something we see down here. I have enjoyed all the pictures of your fall gardens and colors.

This first picture was taken this morning.




This is St. Francis in my shed's garden.




This is spiderwort with Madagascar periwinkles in the background.




Mm. Laurette Messimy, a real sweet little rose.




This is Golden Sun.




Sweetly scented Frangipani.




Red Ixora blooms in the background,
morning glories midway and a flame vine in the foreground.




This is a close-up of the flame vine.
Someone told me the name of this once,
but I can't remember it right now.
I also have the bright orange one.




This is Duchesse de Brabant.




A cassia.




St. Francis




Shed garden




This is Louis Philippe roses with a bougainvillea the same color.




Another of Duchesse blooms.





Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful;
they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul.
Luther Burbank

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

A Heartfelt Thank You ...

To all of our Veteran's.
For leaving the comfort of your homes and families
to serve and protect our country.

War is not nice, it is ugly.

It touches our military men and women and their families profoundly,
in ways the rest of us can only imagine.

May God's blessings and peace be on them all,
as they do their duty.

I want to thank my DH also for doing his tour of duty in the U.S. Navy 1969-1973.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Aaaaahhhhh

Good morning everyone. It is Monday, partly cloudy skies, very breezy and the temperature is comfortable. No a.c. Hurray!

Here are some pictures I took this morning. It is a joy to go out now that the heat and humidity have lessened tremendously. Rain is in the forecast, along with temps in the 50's during the night Wed. and Thurs. This is the time of year FL living is great.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

*****

Bougainvillea and Louis Philippe Roses are shown here in my shed's garden.

Spicy Jatropha or Jatropha integerrima

Plant on a whim.

Lay the footpath where your heart says it should be.

Change things because you feel like it.

Garden for the love of it.

Lindley Karstens

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL