Thankfulness, a take back, and a whacky idea

Good morning Friends,

After much thought and research, I decided to return the rose bush ‘Fragrant Cloud’. I don’t want something that I might have to deal with later with black spot, as I try to garden organically as much as possible.  I got a refund, and next month will go to a local nursery where they sell Old Garden roses, which are much hardier.  I have bought from them before and have been very pleased with what I’ve bought.  Living down here where the tropics begin, the humidity would be a major factor for black spot. I did enjoy the one bloom from FC but was relieved when I took the bush back. I wouldn’t have bought it IF I had known about the black spot problem.  Oh well.

DH has been working on the electrical work for the caravan. We got wire strung through pvc pipe that is underground.  Ditch digging, root cutting, laying the pipe, stringing a feeder wire, attaching and taping wire together to be pulled through pipe, all prep work.  He had an old boat wench, whatever you call it, that we found a long time ago, and used that to pull the wire through.  The wire had to go through two bends, and at first I was cranking on the wench because we both thought that would be easier, and he was stuffing the wire into pipe along with applying the lubricant, then we switched places as the cranking was getting hard on my arms. We timed ourselves doing this little project (pulling the wire through) and it took roughly 22 minutes.  We were glad when that was done.  Now it’s the little stuff inside to get this part of the work on caravan finished.

Yesterday morning when we were first outside, he said to me “You’re probably going to think this is a whacky idea, but what if we put this and he pointed to an object, on the roof of the caravan.” I liked the idea, and at first we just set it up there, but it needed a base, so he scrounged around in his stash and came up with a piece of metal to work with, then we set the thing up there to get an idea and it made us laugh and feel happy.  No doubt some will think it is definitely a whacky idea, and not doubt it is, but it’s recycling, repurposing, and just plain fun.  To us, it really makes the caravan more something or other. I looked up the definition for cupola after I thought of that word for our project and this is what it is: A cupola is an ornamental structure placed on the top of a larger roof. Here it is temporarily for the photo session.

 

DH will make it so that we can take it off in case of a hurricane.  This was an outdoor light at one time. It is amber colored glass, and two sides have lovely scrollwork painted on the inside. They will face east and north, so that we can see them from the driveway. We will prep the metal of the base and lamp part, then paint them the plum color.  I thought of painting the finial on the top with the same paint as roof, but DH has a better idea. He has some real gold leaf in his stash and that’s what he’ll use on the finial. It will sparkle at all times.  We’re going to see about some sort of little solar light to go into the lamp part too, all in good time.  Stay tuned.

Yesterday afternoon I fixed us herbal tea and took it out to the caravan where DH was working.  He took a break and we sipped our tea and talked.  It’s the first time we’ve done that out there and it won’t be the last.  It is a light, happy little space. I love it and he likes it too.  We will be sleeping out there while we remodel our tiny bedroom.  Other times, it will be our little get away without having to fight traffic, drive for hours, and pay who knows what.  There is a jacuzzi on the grounds as well as an outdoor shower, an outdoor clawfoot tub, all in a screened in area. There’s  a washer and ‘solar’ dryer ( a clothesline) for our convenience too. And of course, there are gardens. Whenever we feel like it we will go back there just to have coffee or tea, or for a change of scenery. I can already see me doing some needlework back there. Who knew that a crappy camper could become a cozy, cottage caravan.

Here is the camper right after Hurricane Wilma Oct. 2005.  We didn’t have electricity for 13 days, and once we realized the campers’ propane tank had gas, we popped the top, did a little clean up, and I set up a temporary cooking station in there. We had had two hurricanes the year before, Francis and Jeanne and they caused damage too, with downed trees and limbs.  Some smashing into the front of camper crushing the top. The pile of wood was from our downed tree that was cut up and we brought the debris into our yard from the back neighbor’s where the tree had gone into. We had several huge piles out front over a few weeks time to be picked up.  Florida lost a lot of trees and undergrowth from those three hurricanes.  Plus some kind of beetle blew in and started attacking pines, which caused us to lose more trees.

We decided to sell the junker little truck last fall, but wanted to keep the camper part, and the rest is history. I will do up a webpage about the whole thing once it’s all done.

Our weather is gorgeous and the birds are singing away.  We did more errands this morning and found two pots of something growing, curbside to be thrown out with the brush. I loaded them into the back of my mini van, and have a feeling they are some kind of ficus. Bummer.  I was hoping for something with blooms. The new leaves coming out are very green and healthy looking. I watered them, and will see what happens next.  I may plant them in our front hedgerow.

We bought a big loin of pork @$1.78 a lb. yesterday.  They had a diagram on the package for how to cut this up.  I cut it up and put the larger end in the crockpot along with some organic sauerkraut, caraway seeds, an cubed apple, brown sugar, mustard and a little sherry. Plus we have chops, and the smaller end, all wrapped and in the freezer now.

If you look closely, you can see part of the caravan over the top of the orchids.

Hang in there my northern friends.  Spring will be there before long.

I will close with the following.

The other morning as I was out working in the gardens, my heart filled with thankfulness to God. There was a nice breeze, there were sweet scents wafting in the air, new growth on plants of all types, birds were singing and I felt thankful. Thankful for our little home and compound, thankful for my DH, thankful for our love, thankful for God’s loving care in all areas. There are times when we can and do become lackluster in our thankfulness. Life is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination for any of us. We all go through pain in our lives, whether it be physical, mental or spiritual. We all have ups and downs. But, each and every day is a gift, another day to live, love, laugh, and learn through our experiences. May we grow in God’s love and grace.

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It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,
because his compassions fail not.

They are new every morning

The LORD is my portion, saith my soul;
therefore will I hope in him.

It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait
for the salvation of the LORD.

Lamentations 3 KJV

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