Saturday, October 27, 2012

Sunshine, wind, roses, and thank you

Good Saturday morning Folks,

The sun is shining and we are having lots of wind.  The temps are cooler too. We are thankful. The wind chimes are making their sweet music.

My heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones and homes. in Jamaica, Haiti and Cuba. I hope and pray Sandy does not turn into the storm that they are predicting.

My post was so long the other day that I didn’t get to put all the roses plus a couple other plants in it, so I’ll post them here today.

Ti plant and it’s sweet little flowers.

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Shrimp plant.

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Climbing ‘Maman Cochet’ rose

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‘Maggie’ rose.

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‘Prosperity’ roses.

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Please accept our heartfelt thank you for your prayers and thoughts this past week. They mean so much to both of us. I broke down crying reading out loud to DH, (dear husband). We don’t have it as bad as some people do, but when we all go through different things in our lives, they seem big and bad. Prayers and good wishes never hurt any of us, so thank you, thank you.

Have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady Lorraine

***

If instead of a gem, or even a flower,

we should cast the gift of a loving thought into the heart of a friend,

that would be giving as the angels give. 

George MacDonald

***

All that we behold is full of blessings. 

William Wordsworth

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Hurricane Sandy giving us ‘more’ rain

Good Thursday afternoon. I started this post by hand sitting out in the screened porch off the kitchen. It is cooler out here than inside, although very damp to say the least. We are getting rain from Hurricane Sandy.  More is expected through tomorrow. Saturday is supposed to be much better and Sunday beautiful.

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The Bahamas are being blasted by this hurricane now. It was 7 years ago at this time, that we were blasted by Wilma, and then were without power for 13 days. I’m sure glad that is not the case this time. I do hope no lives are lost, and that property damages are minimal for all those in this storms’ path.

Skies this morning.

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While sitting out here I notice that butterflies are still fluttering about, even in the rain, birds are singing and the windchimes are making their sweet music. I am thankful for those blessings. I have been discouraged, worried and depressed lately so these little glimpses of God’s goodness are wonderful.

As to our a.c. ~ I pulled it out of the opening little by little as it is a heavy monster, and once out far enough I propped it with a couple of things gathered for that purpose. I got the top off, looked at the fan motor and there are NO oil holes. DH suggested just squirting oil on the rod at both ends of the motor. It started but didn’t last for long. Sheesh!

It’s in the east wall of our kitchen. Our cottage is around 700 sq. ft. and a unit this size has kept us comfortable for about 21 years now. This is our third Friedrich’s. The first one lasted about 12 years, the next one 6 and this one only 3. This is a company with a good reputation, but something doesn’t look right with these figures. Quality must be getting poorer. And, the warranty is parts =1 year, and the refrigerant part = 5 years. What good is the compressor without the fan???

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We let the thing sit like this for a couple of days, then I thought to try it again before shoving it back into the wall, as there’s nothing we can do with DH’s neck healing slowly and his not being able to do anything. Well, the fan started right up, sounded great and ran smoothly, for 50 minutes, then stopped. Oh poo, to put it modestly! DH wants to check something with it, but when he’s feeling better, if that doesn’t work, I’ll shove it back into place. At least it’s not the start of summer, the weather has cooled down a tad, and cooler temps into the high 50’s during the night, is expected in the next week or so. That will be so nice.

Monday I did errands by myself, and what did I do but lock myself out of my car. I just wanted to bawl. I called DH and told him and he said he’d be there as quick as he could. At least I was relatively close to home, but it was still painful for him to drive, but my ‘knight in blue jeans’ rescued me and said it happens to the best of us. This made me want to cry all the more, but I still had one more stop to make before heading home.

Monday afternoon I mowed as I knew rainy weather was coming, and I hadn’t been able to do it last week. Tues and Wed mornings I worked in my main garden trying to get things caught up there. I still have more to do in my primitive cottage gardens but at least I made a start. Paths were horribly overgrown and weeds were taking over.

As I sit here I am amazed at the butterflies fluttering about in the rain. It doesn’t seem to bother them at all. I on the other hand am heading back inside as the rain is starting to blow in on me, wetting me and the paper I’m writing on. It was a nice reprieve.

Now for some photos of what’s happening down here in our tropical cottage gardens.

Skipper butterfly on porterweed.

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Zebra on porterweed.

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Gate into secret garden with Alamo vine flowers.

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Philippine violet

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Unknown orchid.

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Excuse the overturned bucket which I was using to sit on to pull weeds, and excuse the weeds that are coming up through the path material. I was too pooped to do anymore.

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The garden still needs work, sigh.

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The rain barrel is behind the lattice. I’ve not planted any vines to grow up it yet, as I’ve just not had the inclination to do anything lately. Every since we set up this rain barrel earlier in the year, we’ve had rain and more rain so that I’ve hardly had to use the water in the barrel.

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Kathleen.

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Prosperity

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Sunset on the 18th.

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That’s it from down south. Be thankful for your many blessings. Don’t take anything for granted. Things change in an instant.

FlowerLady Lorraine

***

It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed,

because his compassions fail not.

They are new every morning

Friday, October 19, 2012

Some roses

Good morning Folks,

Well, it’s morning here, Friday the 19th of October. It is still very warm and humid down here. We’re having rain and more rain.  We had a really lovely day a week or so back, when I wrote my last post, but it immediately warmed back up and the humidity is thick. Not as bad as August and September, but still miserable.

Ok, here are some of the roses in bloom down here.

Vincent Godsiff, with spiderwort in the background.

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‘Cocktail’ rose.

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‘Louis Philippe’

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This might be ‘Bon Silene’, but I’m not positive.

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This is an unknown rose, given to me as a rooted cutting by a friend in CA. I thought she told me had the same name as her grandmother, and I think it was Mary Elizabeth, but I’ve not found any roses that match this one.  The first two photos were in morning sunlight.

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These were taken in the afternoon, more the true color. It is nicely scented too.

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‘Penelope’

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DH is still healing. Fan on our a.c. unit went caput yesterday morning, so no a.c. for us. Sunday morning I’ll see if I can pull the unit out, (it pulls out of the frame, into the room), to see if there is a place to oil the fan. If not, I’ll shove it back in, and we’ll sweat it out. Smile At least it’s nearing the end of October. We are keeping windows shut to keep out heat and humidity, and have 3 ceiling fans going. We can’t afford to have someone come out to do this. We’re thinking of other a.c. options so checking into those. Hopefully, we can oil the fan and it will be good to go for another few years.  The unit is Friedrich’s very good make and is only 3 years old. We had units by the company before that have lasted years and years.

I’ll close with a verse I looked up this morning.

***

Casting all your care on him;

for he cares for you.

I Peter 5:7

***

Have a wonderful weekend ~ FlowerLady Lorraine