Strawberries, Blooms, Rain

Good morning Folks ~ It is a gray, drippy Tuesday morning and I'm not complaining. We finally got some much needed rain yesterday. It started in the morning, let up for awhile, then we got some more later in the afternoon, early evening. We had some thunder and lightening, and more of that is expected today. I just hope it's not raining as I drive to and from work. I am working a 5 day work week this week, so there won't be much time for gardening at all.

My lower back is slowly mending. Sheesh! DH has given the area some deep tissue massage, and that hurts like heck, but in a good way. He even did some reflexology on my feet the other night, and I couldn't believe the sore areas in both feet. I'm taking herbs and vitamins, and DH has used an essential oil blend I made up for massaging into muscles, and that works good too. I'm not as young as I used to be, so need to do things differently. Lifting heavy items takes its toll on you. Anyway, thanks to all for your feel better wishes. They are greatly appreciated.

Here are my strawberries, not real ones, but beaded ones. DH had gone to our friends yard sale the other day and he was given this to give to me. DH bought the beaded parrot from this friend awhile back at another yard sale he had.



Now here are blooms that are going on now.

This is Jane Cowell hibiscus.

I don't know the name of this red hibiscus.

The next few pictures are of Mme. Laurette Messimy.

She is a sweet little China rose, from 1887.

Her scent is a dear rose scent, and greatly enjoyed by me.



Here we have Old Blush once again.

I sure hope you all never tire of seeing my roses over and over again. :-)

This is Duchesse de Brabant.

Dainty Bess ~ A real sweetheart of a rose, with a wonderful clove/rose scent.

Cocktail rose on the wane.

Last and certainly not least, Kathleen. She's a hybrid musk rose and one of my favorites. I bought her and Cocktail about the same time, many years ago. They both are growing in huge terra cotta pots.


That's it for now. Hope you all have a great week.

***

It is always exciting to open the door
and go out into the garden
for the first time on any day.
Marion Cran


Gardening is medicine
that does not need
a prescription ...
And with no limit on dosage.
Author unknown


***

Happy Gardening and Happy Living,

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Spring Blooms and A Lovely Crocheted PIece

Good evening Friends,

Here it is Friday night and pretty soon I'll be heading off to get horizontal and read again before sleep. Thank you all for your 'feel better' wishes. I feel better during the days than I do at night, but I am feeling better with each passing day.

Some of the blooms below were taken on my bday, and the others were taken this morning.

Amaryllis ~ I really like the patterns in this one.

One of my favorite vines, the blue pea vine.

This has been one of my favorite 'blues' for many, many years.

I got it at a local flea market, way back when.

Blue Sage.

The next few pictures are of Cape Hoenysuckle, in two colors.




Firecracker plant.

Golden Dewdrop.

Louis Philippe rose before it fully opens.

Old Blush.

Vanda orchids.

Bon Silene roses.

Cocktail roses.

Golden Sun roses in the next few pictures.



Here is a jasmine that I look forward to blooming every spring.

Confederate Jasmine has a wonderfully sweet scent and frilly little blooms.

Frangipani blooms.

Hamelia Paten ~ A favorite of butterflies and hummingbirds.

La Marne Roses.

Louis Philippe roses.

Old Blush next couple of photos.


Love, a wonderful rose with white on the back side of petals.

Pandora Vine.

I am so thrilled to see my Queen Crepe bursting out in new growth.

Shed Garden.

This is my 'PRIZE' for today. Someone came into my workplace today selling a couple of items. I asked how much for this piece when I spied it, and got it for $10. I had some bday $, and this was a perfect thing to buy with it. I know the work that went into this, and also know that it took lots of thread to make it. It is a double size, which is what our antique head and foot board size is. I just threw it onto the bed for a picture. I need to change the spread underneath.


***

For each new morning with its light,
For rest and shelter of the night,
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Thank you

Good evening Folks,

Hope you had a great beginning to spring, although I've read that some of you are still getting snow. Hang in there.

I want to thank all of you for your kind bday wishes. I had a lovely day spent with DH and enjoyed making sherried beef in the crockpot, and a cream cheese blueberry pie. I will post recipes in a later post.

We've been lifting some 'heavy' stuff lately, and I ended up with a pinched nerve, or whatever it is, in my right back hip area, so that last night it was miserable to sleep. But as yesterday it got progressively worse, today it has gotten progressively better. I am thankful.

I've been reading blog posts and one that touched me today was this one from Rene at Miss Gracie's House. I love her blog and I love her. She's graceful, her style is lovely and gentle and I come away feeling blessed and inspired. I can relate to needing to declutter. We all have stuff laying around or hidden away, that needs to be dealt with.

We are all humans with our frailties, we all have our ups and downs, we are all alike more than we know. None of us are perfect. We all have dreams, desires, feelings. We live different lives, and each of our lives are unique. We live in different homes, areas of the world, with different amounts of money, yet, we are all related, living our lives as best we can.

That's it for now. I'm going to go get horizontal to relax and read before sleep. Tomorrow will be a new day.

***

Give us Lord, a bit o' sun,

A bit o' work and a bit o' fun;

Give us all in the struggle and sputter

Our daily bread and a bit o' butter.

From an inn in Lancaster, England

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

First day of Spring and a Birthday

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, it is also the birthday of a tiny baby girl who was born a month early. That baby girl will be 62 years young tomorrow and she is FlowerLady. She is thankful for being born on such a lovely day, and for the life she has been given.

I plan to putter around here with my DH having a quiet day tomorrow. In the plans, is a special dinner that I look forward to fixing as I love to cook. We do NOT like the hassle, nor the expense of going out to eat. We've been that way since newlyweds. To me there is a real joy in creating a wonderful meal from scratch.

I do hope all of you have a lovely first day of Spring. Spring is such a hopeful time of year, filled with newness and rebirth of our gardens. A time of joy of seeing the earth sprout with new growth and of scents of blossoms filling the air. Wonderful color replaces the bareness of the winter landscape for most of you. Even down here I see different things happening in my gardens that only happen at this time of year.

So, let's all enjoy the day and be thankful for blessings large and small.

Hugs ~ FlowerLady



***

"The air is like a butterfly
With frail blue wings.
The happy earth looks at the sky
And sings."
Joyce Kilmer, Spring

***

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL

Happy Thursday

Good morning everyone. Hope you all have a lovely day today and a fantastic weekend. It's hard to believe Sunday is the first day of spring already. Time is zipping right on by.

Thanks for your comments on my last post about reworked clothesline area. The clothesline was moved west of where it had been, which was right next to the driveway, and we're probably going to move it a foot or so south, in order to put up more picket fencing, over to the 'folly'.

This area does look so much better, it had gotten pitiful looking. I'll show more pictures of the area as I've still more tweaking to do there.

Below are some pictures of blooms I took the other day and forgot to post them.

This is Bon Silene.

The next two are of Chrysler Imperial.



Then we have three pictures of Love. The dew on the rose this morning is what made me go for my camera. Click on pictures for a larger view.





Below are Maggie roses and a Vanda orchid.

Last but not least one of my many reed orchids, and spiderwort. These both grow easily and spread around the property.


"Spring makes its own statement,
so loud and clear
that the gardener seems to be
only one of his instruments,
not the composer."
Geoffrey Charlesworth

Zone 10 ~ s.e. FL