After dinner

This had me dancing around the living room.

***

Music moves me,

in many different ways.

It is a huge part of my life.

It comes from within,

flows without.

It also comes from without

and flows within.

Lots of rain for us

Good afternoon Folks ~ First of all I want to thank all of my commenters on my last post. I appreciate each and every one and I know my friend who I mentioned also appreciates them.

Yesterday morning I woke up feeling thankful, not for any particular reason, and then as I took a walk around outside, my thankfulness grew.

It was gray and windy yesterday and then we had rain in the afternoon and off and on all night and the same for today, minus the wind. South of us had flooding because they got something like 8” of rain. The rain sure is doing our gardens good though and I’m not complaining after being in drought conditions for almost 5 years.  The rain is a blessing.

Saturday after I got home from work, DH asked me if I noticed anything while looking out the scullery window. I looked and said, No-o-o. I had to look some more and then saw what I was supposed to see, the lattice was gone from the back of the bench.  He had taken it down.  We wanted a view into the secret garden from the caravan so the lattice had to come down and the plant material needed trimming too.  He said he pulled the vines out of the lattice gently (passion vine and crossvines). Well, I trimmed everything yesterday, and it looks pretty bare right now, but will soon fill out again.  The Passion vine will be winding down for the year too, and will die back.

Pics below show before and after.

It was starting to rain again when I took the picture below.  The big leaf plant is a bird of paradise, there are a couple of crepe myrtles, and thunbergia shrub as well as the cross vine, which makes a nice hedge and has the pale salmon colored flowers.

I’m playing around with potted plants by the caravan. I don’t like the green pot, which has a ficus in it and some oyster plant, along with orchids, and spiderwort. I will leave the purple/green Moses-in-the-bullrushes plants.  Tradescantia-spathacea-variegata or Oyster Plant. I am starting to put this plant everywhere as it does so well with little care and spreads like crazy too.

Yesterday when we were eating lunch, something huge hit our living room roof.  It freaked us both out and we immediately thought ‘retaliation’ by the punks. Not so, which was a relief, but what happened still got our hearts to pounding.

It was a palm frond from the palm tree that is about 40’ high.  It was really windy yesterday and this thing came down. Sheesh!  Here’s a pic of the tree.  We moved the frond into the driveway to be easier to cut up.

The fat part that is wrapped around the tree, was about 5’ tall so you can imagine how long this frond is.

I’ve got turkey pot pie ingredients simmered and into the casserole, then I’m going to make up drop biscuits to drop on top and bake.  Got the recipe idea from Sandra at Full Bellies Make Happy Kids. I had turkey and broth from the turkey, cut up some potatoes, carrots, onion, added sage, thyme and marjoram, onion and garlic powders and simmered away, adding a can of peas near the end.  It smells good in here.

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

Freebies, roses, & a dream from last night

Good morning Everyone ~ Here it is Friday morning, we’ve just had a little rain shower, more rain is expected over the next few days. Glad I got the painting of the Gypsy caravan, basically done, and the picket fencing finished too. I’ll be heading off to work soon, but wanted to get a post done before I left home.

‘Freebies’ are a part of our life. We don’t purposely go out looking for them, but we see them when we are out and bring them home if we can use them. Yesterday morning DH had to go to HD to get a toilet plumbing part, and while he was out, found a broken into three pieces 2”x4’x8’ piece of styrofoam, which we needed more of to insulate the Gypsy caravan. He then stopped off at the Salvation Army thrift store, and saw that they had free canned goods, limit three, so he picked out cream of potato soup, cream of mushroom soup, and a can of asparagus spears. Yesterday on my way home from work I spied the magazine holder below, sitting curbside. Whoa, step on the breaks, get out of my car, and look it over and the piece came home.  I’ll just clean it up a bit and then DH said to oil it to bring it back to life. By the way, the concrete bench and the little turquoise piece were also found ‘curbside’ over the years. Actually, DH found two of those benches when he was out one day and loaded them into the van himself.

The two picture up next are my view out of the scullery window where I wash dishes. The white lattice will be coming down shortly. This is looking into the ‘secret garden’. The picket fenced garden is on the other side of the hedge to the right.

Our gentle St. Francis statue that we’ve had for many, many years.  I didn’t notice the extra critter on him until I edited the picture. Fitting.

Now, for one of my dreams last night. I usually have several dreams a night, and I dream in color. Well this one was a short dream but it blessed my heart and made me feel peaceful.  I dreamed I was lying on a sofa or a bed, clothed, and there was a tiny faceted bead of turquoise colors, sending out sparkles of light. Then the words of an old hymn’s chorus came to mind. ~ God will take care of you, through every day, o’er all the way, He will take care of you, God will take care of you. ~ I woke up with joy in my heart and a smile on my face, then fell back to sleep.

Yesterday I read a blogging friend’s post that left my heart aching for her and all  who are going through difficult or troubling times. There is so much going on in the world, and not all is hunky dory for everyone. A commenter had the gall to tell her that she didn’t want to hear about the troubles going on in her life or where she lived.  Can you imagine that? Whether we like it or not, bad stuff is happening all over, people are sick and dying, they are poor and destitute. We don’t all live the same lives, have the same finances, live in peaceful environments.

I have two other friends who are dealing with health issues, one of them cancer.

Hearing these things makes my own troubles seem small and insignificant. It sometimes makes me embarrassed to post about our little blessings, except I am grateful to the One who gives the blessings.

We all have lessons to be learned, reasons to be thankful, no matter our circumstances. Life can and does deal us curve balls, but as a believer in Jesus/God, I believe He is with me no matter what I may go through. He is my strength when I am weak.

I will close with the following presentation of that old hymn that came to mind in in my dream last night.

"God Will Take Care Of You"

Be not dismayed what e'er be tide
God will take care of you
Beneath His wings of love abide
God will take care of you

God will take care of you
Through every day, o'er all the way
He will care for you
God will take care of you

Through days of toil when heart doth fail
God will take care of you
When dangers fierce your path assail
God will take care of you

God will take care of you
Through every day, o'er all the way
He will care for you
God will take care of you.

What a difference cooler weather makes!

 Good afternoon Folks ~ It’s been a busy two days for me. I look forward to going to work tomorrow to sit behind the desk and relax.

Yesterday morning I moved concrete blocks and other flotsum from beside the Gypsy shed. Then I mowed, trimmed some low branches from our neighbor’s property that were hanging in our driveway.  I trimmed and weeded some back by my potting area.  I couldn’t even get in there lately because of so much overgrowth. Plus that crazy pit bull behind us has intimidated me from staying away from my own space.  Yesterday he didn’t even come back there and froth like he usually does and that was a relief. That work all took about 4 1/2 hours. DH did caulking and other wood work on the shed so that I could paint today.

I got a crockpot of Navy beans, with onion, celery, garlic, thyme, marjoram and smoked chicken sausage going before I headed outside to paint this morning.  It sure is smelling really good right now.  I’m going to add some kale to the pot before long.

The north and east sides of the shed were painted this morning.  After lunch the south and west sides were painted.  Oh yea, I also painted the hinges and latch on the picket fence with the plum color.  I just love how this is turning out. I enjoy painting.  DH is thinking about how to finish off the bottom edge.  Plus he has the whole inside to finish off and a front door to make.

What a difference cooler weather makes. We can do so much more outside and don’t feel drained and sick, like our summer heat and humidity make us feel.

Here are the pictures.

I didn’t finish the top part because DH has some trimming up to do there that we forgot about. 

You can see the red rose in the above picture, it is Chrysler Imperial and that scent was wonderful as I was working back there. Here it is below almost reaching it’s end.

This vine is all through the hedge on the other side of this area and has been blooming steadily for months now.  The scent is so sweet and the blooms fabulous.

The next four pics are of the blooms from my rooted cutting of Homere.  I can hardly wait for this plant to get older and give me larger blooms.  These are a delight though even small as they are now.

These morning glories would take over the property if I let it.

That’s it for now.  It’s time to relax and unwind with a glass of Chardonnay before dinner.

Tonight is Survivor again, so it will be a popcorn-date night.

Enjoy the rest of your week and be thankful for your many blessings.

***

No two gardens are the same. 

No two days are the same in one garden. 

Hugh Johnson

Picket fence painted :-)

Hi Folks ~ I’m about ready to get horizontal to read before sleep but wanted to show the picket fencing. It took me from 9 –12 this morning. There was a nice breeze, it was partly cloudy and I’m glad to have that project done. We both love how it looks with the Gypsy Caravan. I’m going to paint the hinges and latch plum color. You can see the uneveness of the pickets at the bottom, these were recycled. I’m going to try to scrounge up some more rocks from around the property to put at the base. I painted from the gate to the caravan.

I moved potted plants to beside the inside of fencing so there are periwinkles peaking through fencing and some Spanish moss hanging from one of the potted Texas sage shrubs. I need to prune and feed them. I’ve got Chrysler Imperial and Don Juan both in pots here too, among other things. We’ve got a pile of ‘curbside shopped’ broken patio stones that I’ll be using to make a patio from the back of caravan to the clothesline. Another project for another day. My right arm and wrist were really aching when I quit painting today. This is the arm that was broken and wrenched in a car accident in 2000. The doctor said it wouldn’t be the same as before the accident and he was right. I just try to do what I can and not over do it. Easier said than done.

DH has been working on the space for the propane gas tank that came with the original camper. He had to make sure it was sealed so that there will be no possible leakage into the inside. We got that done this morning, except for one little place and he’ll fix that next time he’s out there. He’ll be getting the little propane refrigerator set up too and then we can see how to make the counter top over the area so that we can install the little stainless steel sink that came with it too. Then DH will paint the floor with terra cotta colored thick roof paint, then mark it out into tiles. Pretty soon I’ll be painting the outside wood plum color and really look forward to that. I really enjoy painting, have since I was a teen, it’s just that I have to take it easier these days. It doesn’t all have to be done at one time. The ‘caravan’ is coming a long little by little. It is a fun project.

Here are some flower pics from today.

Louis Philippe or Florida Cracker rose.

Mm. Laurette Messimy rose in the next three photos.

Rain lilies.

We had some excitement in the neighborhood yesterday afternoon. DH captured in photos with my camera, three teens throwing rocks from behind a 6’ high cement fence at cars and pedestrians. This has happened three times now. The first time was at night and they hit a bicyclist in the face with something so that he had a bloody nose. But they ran away and didn’t get caught. The next time was in broad daylight, and they ran away too because they had a look out who told them via cell phone that cops were coming. Well, this time DH had a plan. When he heard what he thought was rocks being thrown at vehicles, he got up on our roof with the camera and got some great shots as they were firing rocks, eggs, bits of cement, etc. He didn’t get them hitting a fire truck, but he saw that happen. The fire truck is the one who called the cops this time. We called the other two times. Well the cops and the firemen were thrilled that DH had pictures. The one cop had to go through quite a few flower pictures on my chip, before he got to the pictures of the crime, which I thought was funny. He told DH ‘your wife’s chip is just about full’. I did delete everything off of it this morning.

We found out recently that a gang of teens stole the hot water heater and room a.c.’s from this apt complex which is being remodeled and stripped them of the copper. The cops are watching them and who knows maybe this event yesterday will help with the whole deal. From the pictures, the cops rounded up the main suspect who lives down the street, and then he gave the info on the other two. They were all rounded up, had to apologize to the firemen, and to their parents, and the one who had thrown the rocks went off in handcuffs to the police station. Hopefully they will learn a lesson but who knows. Kids are so unpredictable and out of hand these days. This kid was clean cut and his parents looked like decent people.

I am a bit concerned about retaliation, but am trying not to worry about it.

Anyway, we sure hope things will quiet down around here. There is a property manager now living next door, so hopefully no more shenanigans will happen. Although this did happen yesterday afternoon and she was there, but the kids have been sneaking in at the back of the property and leaving the same way. The owner is going to put up chain link fencing, and a motion light and hopefully that will help too. We have 6’ high privacy fencing all around our property.

It would be neat if we could ‘beam’ our little compound to some quiet country piece of property, but that’s not likely to happen, so we do the best we can here in our little haven.

Hope you all have a great week.

FlowerLady

***

The difficulties of life

are intended to make us better, not bitter.

Author Unknown

Chilly temps, GS project, Blooms

Good morning Everyone ~ Well, it’s morning here anyway. It is around 60 and feels absolutely wonderful!  We are loving this weather.  It is supposed to warm back up though and be in the low 70’s again at night.  But, at least major heat and humidity are over for the year.

I hope to get out in the next day or two to paint the picket fencing. It’s been two weeks since we put it up.  We’ve had lots of rain, plus I work part time. Last weekend I cleaned the fencing with TSP, what great stuff.

DH cut out the window holes at the back of the Gypsy wagon, then we put the windows in.  I had to hold them on the outside, while he screwed them from the inside. We call the saw that he used ‘the screamer’, as it makes a loud, horrible scream as it saws.  It’s been like this since we first bought it.  These little stained glass windows are not identical but we really love the colored light they bring inside in the mornings.

Now for some blooms.

4 O’clocks

Bon Silene

Hibiscus

Homere bud

Tiny orchids unknown

Porterweed

Pink Muhly Grass ~ I love it.  We bought one pot last season, I divided it at the end of season and potted it in our two huge shell covered planters.

Have a wonderful weekend.