Plum Cottage happenings and Thankfulness

Good morning Folks ~ This will probably be my last post for a few days, as I'll be spending time in the kitchen cooking and baking, eating and enjoying the day with DH, then working at my job Fri and Sat.

I want to say a big thank you to all of you who read and comment here on my blog. It is still amazing to me and I am thankful for friendships made here.

I am thankful to the two buyers who have bought my beaded/embroidery works. One was before I even had the shop set up, and the other just after it was set up. Thank you Ladies.

I'm thankful for the 'freebies' we find curbside. I know this kind of shopping isn't for everyone, but we enjoy it. Just the other day, I looked across the street and saw a box of angle looking stuff overflowing a box, I didn't have my glasses on, and told DH about it, thinking it might be iron parts or something he can use. Well, what he walks back with is a box full of VHS movies, that had just been thrown all in the box, which is why I saw angles. We got around 40 good ones, and 30 that are mostly children's movies that must have been stored in a shed and gotten damp and moldy. We still have our VHS rewinder, and it still works too. These movies were not rewound. Over the years we've found so many useful and artistic things that others just throw away.

I'm thankful we have our little cottage and food to eat. At one really low time in our life, we picked dumpsters behind the grocery store for food. We got fruit, veggies, bread and some times cheese. We ate and never got sick. Times have gotten much better for us, (that was about 30 years ago), but going through that rough time makes us appreciate the many blessings we enjoy now.

I'm thankful I'm able to cook and bake, garden and craft. Thankful I still have my job, even if it is now only two days a week.

I'm thankful to God for His love, forgiveness and tender mercies. Thankful for the freedoms we still enjoy in this country.

I'm thankful for DH's love and encouragement and all that he does.

I wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving day celebration.

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure. Click on pictures to enlarge.

Penelope next three pictures.







Louis Philippe - Florida Cracker Rose

The next pictures are of the east side of our cottage. The wall below is the 'scullery' wall. You can see through the open lattice door into the secret garden. DH hung these two bird cages for me the other day. The pot on the left has green and white spider plants. The pot on the right has spider plants also and orchids growing in it. The Mexican pot that DH bought for me recently is only sitting on the bench temporarily. This area is on the north side of our screened porch off the kitchen.


You can see that the house paint is peeling and we hope to pressure wash and paint once it gets cooler down here. We already have the paint, and I'm ready to freshen it up and the color will be more plumy once again.

The 'secret garden' door is closed, and you can see 'last years' Christmas wreath. :-) The iron piece leaning up against the door will hang over the white outdoor bar once we have the house repainted. I may paint it white, or leave it as is. Haven't decided yet.

Here is the screened porch, which is the main entry into our cottage. The porch sure keeps the mosquitoes from coming into the house so much. Plus it's a nice place to sit.



Here is the south side. I did some clean up of fallen leaves, hung the piece of wall art, and rearranged some pieces. I love sitting here and Tork, our outdoor/indoor feline girl likes to sit in my lap here, especially in the summer in the shade of the big tree.








Below are Apple Snail shells that DH found in a nearby canal up on the bank and some at the waters edge.

I love the sunlight shining through the colorful shell interiors.



******

It is a glorious privilege to live,
to know, to act, to listen,to behold,
to love.
To look up at the blue summer sky;
to see the sun sink slowly beyond the line of the horizon;
to watch the worlds come twinkling into view,
first one by one,
and the myriads that no man can count, and lo!
the universe is white with them;
and you and I are here.
Marco Morrow

******

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL