Liquid Sunshine ...

...otherwise known as RAIN, is what we are getting right now. A gentle rain, no thunder and lightening and it is nice. Hopefully it will fill our rain barrel enough to cover the patch so we can see if it's going to leak or not. It doesn't have much to go to be up past the area. This rain barrel is 55 inches high with lid and 34 inches in diameter. I measured the inside height and it's 43 inches, so DH did some figuring and the thing holds 169 gallons. If we have a huge amount of rain, that thing will fill up in no time. ~~ It is now up above the patch and so far, it doesn't look like it is leaking. Hurray. Another curbside shopped piece put to use. :-)

Here is a look at the sky earlier, before the rain started.


At the moment I'm not sure what this sweet rose is.



Below is Tork. Look at that serious expression on her face. I figured she either had a glass snake or a lizard, so went closer for a look after taking her picture. It was a big ole' moth. Tork jumped away and I got the moth to climb a stick and took it to some shrubbery.



Our lovely orange hibiscus. I didn't not see the visitors when I took the pictures.











This is a view I see out the scullery window, only zoomed in.
There are pink crepe myrtle blooms,
a pale orange flowering vine,
and the Incense passion flowers.
That is a storage building in the back with tools hanging on the walls.



My favorite of our two different kinds of passion flower.
This one is called 'Incense'.






***

Thought for today:

Gardening is about

enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil,

getting dirty without feeling guilty,

and generally

taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity.

Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Saturday morning

Good morning Friends ~ Here it is another Saturday morning, the start of the weekend for some of you. I'll be working at my job today, just one day of work this week. Next week I'll work Thurs-Sat.

The other morning when we went out to do some rain barrel work, we realized we couldn't set it up where we had originally planned as the water pipes from the well were under that spot. So instead of being behind the main garden, it will be at the back. I think I may paint it house color when we repaint the house, that way it will blend it better, instead of looking like the huge white behemoth that it is. I had to dig up ferns, move some orchids, and also transplant a couple of baby crepe myrtles. Then we sent up concrete blocks 6 of them, stacked two high, on their sides. We moved the barrel close to the house so that we could hook the drain temporarily into it, to check for leaks. There is a repair job on the inside, and we got some rain, but it didn't quite reach the repair patch. We may get more rain today or tonight.

The barrel will be behind the blue bottles.


The lid with screened holes in it is sitting on the concrete blocks,
which the barrel will be set up on.



Here are a couple of pictures of a pink Salvia.
I didn't see the ants when I took the picture.
Click on pictures for a larger view.






Next are pictures of what I worked on yesterday. Four little beaded and embroidered hearts with flowers. They are 1 1/4 inches high by 1 inch across. They will be going into little red frames. These pictures aren't the best at all, lighting isn't right, nor focus, but it gives you the idea of how they look. I'm building up some stock to get ready to put in my Etsy shop. I love sitting in my little space with a view out onto the front patio, embroidering and beading away.












My work space is covered in bits of fabric, threads and beads, awaiting the next little project to be started. I found the quote below this morning. :-)

***

A creative mess is better than tidy idleness.
Author Unknown

***

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Thibeault's Table Give away

Good morning Folks ~ I just read of a wonderful give away at a scrumptious blog I follow. Her recipes and pictures are great inspiration. To visit her blog click Thibeault's Table

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

The Cost Of Speech

Here is something DH read today, and this really has my ire up. If this happens all over the country dear friends, we will all be losers. I can't afford to pay this, neither can thousands of others. Free speech is becoming a thing of the past. I am thankful today, this very minute for all the blogging friends I've made here, for tips, ideas, etc. given freely by so many. Let's enjoy our freedoms while we may.


"Blogging is not a privilege to be trifled with by grasping city officials, but a right guaranteed by the Constitution. Speech is free — and not to be priced by government."

For the whole article go here.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Thunderstorm and found goodies

We are having a whopper thunderstorm with heavy downpour. I'm thankful for the rain, but could do without the thunder and lightening. :-) I mowed, trimmed stuff along the driveway, and used the electric hedge clipper on the front hedgerow, this morning. Just have a little clean up to do along the driveway as I was too dang pooped to do anymore, so that can get done tomorrow morning.

We're still not sure what's going on with the leak. The meter is hardly moving today, so who knows. DH did not go under the house, he's waiting to see, and will read the meter daily instead of weekly to keep on top of the water usage.

He went out on an errand this morning, and when he got home, he stopped by the kitchen porch, opened the hatchback of my little old Mazda wagon and started unloading boxes that said, crafts, linens. I thought oh my gosh, and just kept laughing as he pulled the boxes out. Today was trash day and if he hadn't stopped for these the goodies would have ended up out in the landfill. What a waste.

I started sorting after I took a picture of the boxes, and the one box with the red basket on the top, was 'mostly' junk, from a kids room, BUT, we did get a VTECH phone with charger and it works, and we found a sterling silver pin, with what looks like Marcasite stones surrounding a nice piece of mother of pearl. Also, we found a 14k gold ring with maybe two tiny diamonds and a cultured pearl. It's been many years since we've found any gold and silver while curbside shopping. So, it just goes to show, you never know what you might find.








I laid out all the craft items on the floor. Look at that pink little case filled with embroidery threads. :-) Then there is a clear compartmentalized case that had 4 kinds of beads in it, some quilting material, a few Christmas bells, and three other gold colored ornies,
lace trims, a gromlet sort of tool, a little Continental sewing machine with a foot pedal, it works, tissue paper, a new photo album, maybe I'll start putting pictures of my beaded pieces in it. We also got some other odds and ends, but the picture below shows the main bulk.


I sorted the threads and put them in zip-lock bags,
with the date and saying we found them.


Below are the lace trims. Now I need to figure out how to use them.








Here is that bead box, the 4 compartments at the top have the beads that came in it, the rest of the beads are mine I just got the other day with my gift card. I needed somewhere to put them, and now I have it.


******

Thanks are justly due for boons unbought.

Ovid

* boon - noun - something to be thankful for; blessing; benefit. *


Hope you all have a great week. Maybe you'll come across something interesting looking on the curb. Don't be ashamed to stop and grab it. It gets easier with time to not be embarrassed, and you really don't know what hidden treasures might await you.

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Rain, beads, blooms and ugh.

Good afternoon, at least it's afternoon here, for a little while longer. We got some much needed rain last night, and a bit today and it looks like we may get some more. The gardens are happy, the gardener is happy. :-)

In the mail a little while ago I received my bead order. I had won a $20 gift card from Amazon in a give-away at Sandra's blog Diary of a Stay at home Mom and I ordered beads. Thanks again Sandra. I also got some beading needles and will see if they are any easier to thread than the couple I have now. These have big eyes, meaning long eyes. I'll let you know what I think after using one.
Click on pictures for larger images.









Here are more blooms from my Gloxinia. The little turtle shell DH found on the border of our property. Some of my blue glass collection.






The UGH part of our day is a water leak in our pipe under the house. DH did some repair work, using a patch, for a leak we got two years ago and that has worked fine. Since then, DH has been reading our water meter every week. Well, this week, our water reading is almost double of what we usually use in a week, so tomorrow morning when it's cool, he'll crawl under the house, a not nice job, and see if he can find the leak. We've got the water to the house turned off for now. Have some buckets of water to use for toilet flushing and rinsing hands and we can turn on the water for a short while if we need to.

So, that was our day.
I hope you all had days that were good, with not too much bad,
or at least not more than you could handle.
Good or bad, it's all part of our growing process, called LIFE.

***

Grace isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal.

It's a way to live.

Attributed to Jacqueline Winspear

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

What a difference ...

... a few days makes. This morning when I first went out, I could really feel and sense a difference, fall is coming. It will no doubt be very hot and humid again, probably until the end of October, but fall is definitely on its way. It is cloudy this morning, we had a little rain last night too. Right now it is 81 and feels like it is 91. Lately it's been in the high 80's and into the 90's and feel like it's around 105. So, today is a wonderful break from what we've been having. Birds sounded happier this morning too.

Here is a youtube presentation of the song "I Can See Clearly Now", that sounds right for today. Please turn off my playlist on the sidebar in order to listen to this piece.



Here we have Duchesse de Brabant and colorful crotons.


The pictures below are of a bromeliad bloom.











Here is a whimsical photo to end this post.



******


Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

Winston Churchill


******


Every day may not be good,

but there's something good in every day.

Author Unknown

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Chunky Cherry Muffins

Good morning Folks ~ We had some fresh cherries on hand so I googled cherry muffins and the recipe below is from Southern Food

These are great! I want to try the recipe using apples, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, plums in place of cherries in the recipe, adding whatever spices needed also

Chunky Cherry Muffins

Use fresh or frozen cherries in these delicious muffins.
Ingredients:

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
* 3 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
* 2 large eggs
* 6 tablespoons butter, melted
* 1 teaspoon vanilla (I also added 1/4 tsp. rum flavoring)
* 3/4 cup buttermilk; low fat is fine
* 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped cherries, about 8 ounces
* 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Preparation:
Line muffin cups with paper liners or spray well with a baking spray. Heat oven to 375°.

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, baking powder, soda, salt, and brown sugar, stirring to blend. Whisk eggs with butter and vanilla; stir into the dry ingredients along with buttermilk. Stir until blended. Stir in chopped cherries and pecans.

Fill muffin cups about almost to tops of papers. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until browned and the tops spring back when pressed lightly with a finger.

Makes 12 to 15.

As for butter versus margarine,

I trust cows more than chemists.

Joan Gussow

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Thank you

I want to thank all of you for the encouragement you gave in my last post. I really appreciate it. I felt better after posting, God was giving me my daily strength, and we went out and took care of our errands. Sometimes you wake up feeling better than the day before and you can tell that it's not the same. Then I read your comments and was so blessed and encouraged.

This morning I thought to check my mail account for my blog and found an email from Sandra of Diary of a Stay at Home Mom about my having won her recent give-away of a $20 gift card from Amazon. What a pleasant surprise. Then I had another email from a blogging friend saying they had some thread and beads they thought I might want. Amazing.

Well, with my gift card, I had no idea what I was going to get until I saw that Amazon had jewelry making supplies, and I ordered Czech Seed beads 11/0 size, in different colors and a pkg of beading needles. I will post a picture next week after they get here.

Yesterday when we were out doing errands we stopped at a local art supply store and got a sheet of foam board and a roll of double stick tape for mounting my needlework pieces. I thought I was going to do my latest two pieces today, but didn't get to it, hopefully tomorrow I will. DH made the frames from scraps of molding that we had. I hope also to get these up in my Etsy shop in the next week or so.

Click on pictures to enlarge.

Here are the pieces.

This first one is 3 1/2" x 4 1/2".







This piece is 6" x 4".






It's still too hot to do much of anything outside, so I'll be indoors working on more embroidery, and cooking, etc.

I did weed wack two rock borders today but that was it. Sweat was pouring and that is not fun at all.

Hope you all are keeping cool, and keeping your cool, and that the rest of your week is good.

Thanks again for your kind comments.

******

How beautiful a day can be

When kindness touches it!

George Elliston

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL